The Agile Scaleup

False Masculinity

"...keeping your children great"

HEADLINE: (Rite of Passage Update)

52 pages of response -- my request for assistance in developing an appropriate Rite of Passage program for my children was enormous. I've posted a document that combines all the unedited feedback I received -- here's a link -- I particularly liked the Cherokee Indian story Bob Hubbard shared on page 17. It's fascinating to read all the ideas and to know that it's an important topic. Following are some highlights:

Secret Service at Home -- John DiJulius, the Customer Service guru we hosted at the Sales and Marketing Summit, who captured all our hearts when he shared the story about how his son became the U.S. wrestling champ seven years in a row, sent me a piece he wrote summarizing the activities he does with his three boys while running a business and traveling -- including Daily Journals, Surprise Day with Dad, "tickle" email notifications, and an amazing Lemonade Stand idea!! Take five minutes and scan his ideas below under DETAILS.

Season of Life: a football star, a boy, a journey to manhood -- several books were recommended which I'll list in a moment. However, the   book that had the greatest impact on me (thank you Jeff Schmeck for sending me a copy) was Season of Life, a book about the famous captain of the   Baltimore Colt's, Joe Ehrmann, written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jeffrey Marx. It's a powerful short book that EVERY man who influences/coaches/mentors boys should read. He shares the three components of what he terms "false   masculinity": athletic ability, sexual conquest, and economic success which have led to entire generations of lonely men. Ehrmann suggests masculinity is really defined by two more important aspects of a man's life: relationships and purpose.

Number one job of a coach -- Ehrmann, besides on the circuit lecturing to pro football teams and their coaches; driving a program called "Building Men for Others"; and the founder of The Door, an organization   that serves inner city families in Baltimore, Ehrmann volunteers as a coach for the top rated Gilman High School football team, which has only surrendered one conference championship   since 1998. At the beginning of each practice the coaches ask the boys "what is our job?" and the boys respond "to love us." Then the coaches ask "and what is your job as players?" and the boys respond "to love each other." Powerful stuff for young men producing one of the most   winning football teams in the U.S.!

Two More books -- many of you recommended I read Adam's Return: The Five Promises of Male Initiation by Richard Rohr; and Raising a Modern-Day Knight: A Father's Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood   by Robert Lewis. One of my Insight reader's father, Steven Hicken, is also preparing to publish a book entitled From Boy to Man: A Practical Guide to Welcoming our Sons into Manhood. Mr. Hicken was kind enough to share an early draft for me to read. I'll let you know when it's published.

King, Warrior, Magician, Lover -- this is one of several frameworks we're going to use with a group of 11 year old boys we've gathered to start the Rite of Passage process next week. I'm convinced, after all I've read this   summer, that there isn't just one framework. The 5F framework (Faith, Family, Friends, Fitness, and Finance) will anchor our program next week. And Joe Ehrmann's "relationship and purpose" framework will permeate all we do over the next several years.

Boy Scouts -- Several Insight readers questioned whether I was simply re-inventing the wheel. Several fathers who were Eagle Scouts themselves have sons going through the process. One father credits the experience with helping his son get into Stanford. I really thought the Boy Scouts had lost much of its influence, but the more I look into it, the more I'm impressed -- a lot depends on the troop and the involvement of the father. BTW, the Boy Scouts celebrated their 100th anniversary on August 1.

Story of the elephants -- one story struck me the most in Richard Rohr's book. There was an animal preserve where a group of the male elephants started acting strange: killing small animals; crushing a VW bus, etc. What some elephant experts discovered is that through famine, poaching, and death, there were no elder male elephants around. Once a few were introduced into the herd, the young male elephants calmed down. It is quantity time that matters most. It's why you'll see me less on the road from now on. I've noticed a huge difference in my children (sons and daughter) since being home for an   extended period of time.

Next week's process -- I'll let you know how it goes and will share details on how (and if we were successful) in instilling the 5Fs within a group of 11 year old boys -- the first step in a multi-year process we're   designing as we go. Thank you, immensely, for your willingness to share your experiences and ideas -- I'm continually amazed at the sheer amount of intellectual capital represented by the leaders of growth firms willing to take 10 minutes and scan my weekly insights. Again, thank you.

Defying Gravity

"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy

HEADLINES:

Summer Cash! -- David Mammano, founder and publisher of nextSTEP Magazine, has always had to dip into lines of credit in the summer. Instead, his latest quarterly theme is putting a sizable amount of cash IN the bank this summer -- not just booked, but checks deposited. And it's working -- see below.   BTW, they were also a 2007 "Periodical of the Year" winner. Congrats David.

Bill the whole amount upfront -- notes Mammano "Since we only publish during the school year, summers are usually a huge dry spell (AKA -- credit line time!). Our Gazelles coach Les Rubenovitch challenged us to rethink our billing system. The "norm" for magazines is to bill per issue. For instance, if a client bought our Sept, Nov, and March issues, we would bill them after each issue ran. We now bill for the whole amount upfront -- due net 15 days. Guess what? Most clients are doing it. We get the whole year's cash upfront. We've even had clients thank us for making it easier for them. They like to pay all at once and just get it done with! Who knew?! Les did -- THANKS LES!!!"

Public display of cash -- and Mammano has the entire company engaged and aware of their progress on cash. Here's a link to the "big foot" they have posted in their conference room for all to see -- even clients!! Company leaders are often too worried   about letting employees and customers know what their challenges are and how well they are doing or not. Instead, this kind of thing shows vulnerability   which is a key step in building trust as Pat Lencioni notes in his landmark book "Five Dysfunctions of a Team."

12 Ways to Improve Cash -- below under DETAILS is an earlier article I wrote on improving cash. It never hurts to take a weekly or monthly meetings and discuss ways you can improve cash flow. And I find that making EVERY decision with one eye on how the decision will impact cash improves overall   decision making within a company -- and improves the financial health of the company.

DETAILS:

CASH FLOW -- 12 WAYS TO DEFY THE "ENTREPRENEURIAL LAW OF GRAVITY"

Get rid of your bank lines -- Bill Ritchie, CEO of ThinkFun, and his team, focused on cash and reduced what had become a permanent $1.5 million bank line   down to zero. Reduce your cash cycle days -- PPR Travel changed the color of their invoice to blue and reduced their cash cycle days by 15. Get customers   to help fund your growth -- Wild Birds Unlimited accomplished this through an innovative Free Birdseed Storage program.

Growth consumes cash -- the first law of entrepreneurial gravity -- yet all three firms mentioned above dramatically improved their cash positions while growing their businesses. Below are 12 ways to reduce your cash cycle. Gather your executive team together for 30 -- 60 minutes and brainstorm five ways you can immediately reduce your cash cycle and double your operating cash position within the next 12 months.

And how do you know if you're generating enough cash to grow? How do you calculate a cash cycle? The best article on this subject, complete with formulas, is Neil Churchill's Harvard Business Review article entitled "How Fast Can Your Company Afford to Grow?" You can go to www.hbr.com and download a copy for $6.

Some areas of opportunity:

 

1. First, stop saying, "Well, this is just the way it is in our industry."  
 
2. Have your available cash reported DAILY with a short explanation why it changed the last 24 hours -- and chart against A/R and A/P weekly. You'll learn so much more about your business when you see how the cash is flowing     on a daily basis.
 
3. If you want to be paid sooner, ask. Small firms are finding that large firms (and governments!!) will pay considerably faster or even prepay if you simply ask, ask, ask, ask, and ask some more.
 
4. Give value back for customers that pay in advance or on time -- more below.
 
5. Get your bills out quicker -- hire one more person in accounting to do nothing but make sure invoices are timely and followed-up.
 
6. Understand why your clients are paying later -- many times there are recurring mistakes on the invoice or the invoice is not structured to make it easy for the customer to reconcile.
 
7. Understand your customers' payment cycles and time your billings to coincide.
 
8. Pay many of your own expenses with a credit card so you can play the float and get your own customers to pay by credit card.
 
9. Help your customers improve their cash so they can pay you -- offer them leasing options, for instance.
 
10. Shorten product and service delivery cycle times. All of you have some kind of "work-in-progress." The quicker you complete projects, the quicker you get paid.
 
11. Have such a valuable product or service that you have some leverage with your customers to pay sooner.
 
12. Of course, improving margins and profit improves cash.

The Wild Birds Unlimited story demonstrates how you can give value back to customers for paying in advance. Consistently recognized as one of the best franchises in the country, WBU sells birdseed, feeders, and other suppliers for those interested in birds. Jim Carpenter, the founder, recognized that his customers would love to purchase birdseed in bulk, but didn't want to haul it or store it. Twice a year he offers his customers the chance to purchase a year's supply of birdseed at a significant discount, yet he agrees to "store" it for them through his Free Birdseed Storage program. Then every two to four   weeks, the customer can come in and pick-up what birdseed they need. Not only does this generate a significant amount of upfront cash, but it creates traffic   in the stores -- a win/win/win for everyone.

PPR Travel, a leading healthcare placement firm, hired an extra person to make sure invoices were accurate; to call hospitals to proactively find out how they   each wanted their invoice structured; and to make follow-up phone calls. In addition, they hit upon the idea to change the color of their invoice from the industry standard white to blue so its noticed in the huge pile of invoices sitting on the accounts payable clerks desk. Dwight Cooper, the CEO, has received lots of anecdotal feedback from hospitals where clerks say "because we know your invoice is accurate and won't be a hassle, and we know its blue, we   grab in from the middle of the pile and up it on top to be processed first."

As for helping customers improve their cash flow, back when I was selling $100k energy management systems in college, we worked with a firm to lease the equipment to companies with a monthly payment less than the energy savings we were generating. We received our money the minute the contract was signed and the paperwork reached   the leasing firm. The customer actually improved their cash flow because of the net difference between their energy savings and the lease payment. And the   leasing firm did a nice business with us.

I've never found a business that can't dramatically improve their cash flow. And what it takes to reduce your cash cycle almost always leads to much greater operational excellence and customer service. You don't have to cheat your customers or suppliers to achieve better cash flow. And with more cash, you sleep much better at night!

Generation V

"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy

HEADLINES: Theme -- Web 2.0

Todd Klein's Generation V -- we all know about "Generation   X" and "Generation Y", but what to name the next generation of children. Todd Klein, managing partner of Legend Ventures, has ventured a label -- Generation V, the Virtual Generation. Here's a link to his blog where he lays out his case for the label. Like his young daughter, my young children are likewise addicted to www.Webkinz.com. I think Todd has really nailed the trend, something he must do as he makes early stage investments in New Media, telecommunications, and information technology firms. Take five minutes and read his blog.

David Cornblatt uses YouTube to promote his business -- people are searching YouTube for information just like Google -- or at least getting to YouTube via Google. As such, David Cornblatt, CEO of OLS Liquidation Advisors, shot a couple videos last week and posted on YouTube -- cost was under $1500. They also give him short information videos he can use on his website -- take a look to see how he positions these videos.

Here are links to the two pieces on YouTube -- and if you feel its worthy, give his promo piece a 4 star rating -- he would appreciate it!!

The informational piece
The promo piece

Entrepreneurs love to get deals on purchases -- share coupon codes via www.DealLocker.com. Jonathan Lieberman is back! One of our early, early clients, most of you have seen his "Fast and Furious" Focalex theme video which I've been showing for years in our Rockefeller Habits workshop. He sold Focalex and traveled the world with his wife Soyan. Upon returning, they settled in Solano Beach, CA and Lieberman launched DealLocker -- a place where "friends help friends get deals" through coupon code sharing. Below under DETAILS Lieberman outlines the new company and makes a plea for some help/promotion -- worth reading for ideas on how to promote your own company -- Jonathan understands how to rank high on places like Google.

DETAILS:

Here's the note I and a thousand of Jonathan's closest friends received this week (yes, Jonathan and I also communicated directly about this!):

Hello! I am writing to update you and ask for a few minutes of your help.

Soyan and I have returned from our extended travels and have a new home in Solana Beach, a coastal community just north of San Diego. Soyan is looking for a job in science and I have a new company called DealLocker.com.

Deal Locker is dedicated to the concept that "friends help friends get deals". It is a place to find and share online coupon codes. When you buy something online, and you see that empty little coupon code box on the check   out page, we can help! Deal Locker is a database of coupons for thousands of online stores.

Need a coupon for a specific store? Just type in any store and we'll show you all the coupons we have. Don't have a specific store in mind? Search our coupons by topic or just browse your favorite stores and see what deals you find. We have thousands of coupons, but this sort of site gets better as more people use it, and that's where I'd like to ask for your help.

BUT HOW CAN I HELP?
Funny you should ask... :)

 

1. MOST IMPORTANT: Spread the word and help build links!
 
2. Think of us when you go shopping.
 
3. If you get a coupon code, submit it.

HOW TO SPREAD THE WORD AND BUILD LINKS:
(and generally accumulate massive good karma)

If you don't use social bookmarks, have a blog, or a myspace page: Please send this to your 5 most connected friends and ask them to help.

SPREADING THE WORD WITH SOCIAL BOOKMARKS:

If you are web 2.0 sort of person and you know what digg is, please digg us today (we are trying to make the first page).

If you don't know what digg is, just skip this, but in brief it is a popular site where the tech community votes for favorite pages.

http://digg.com/tech_deals/Coupon_Codes_that_Work

If you use:
  Stumble Upon,
  Del.icio.us,
  Netscape social bookmarks
  Reddit or any other social bookmarking site please add us! Include keywords   like: coupons, coupon codes, promo codes and shopping. Generally heaping praise   on us is much appreciated too.

BLOG ME, BABY...

Do you have a blog? If you do and you'd like to write a post about the site   that would be really appreciated. I am happy to help in any way I can, but as   a start I offer up the following headlines as inspiration:

Never Pay Retail
  Seven Seconds to Saving Some Scratch
  Shop like Paris Hilton without a Trust Fund
  Now you can save money and help your friends.
  Stop being mocked by the empty coupon code box.
  What everybody ought to know about shopping online.
  How I Learned to Stop Paying Retail and Love the dotCom.

If that is too much effort maybe you could throw a link up that said: "Coupons"   or "Coupon Codes" or "Never pay retail" or "My friend   has this awesome site to help you find coupons when you shop online."

ONLINE FORUMS

If you are active in any online forums where it would be appropriate to mention   the site or to include a link please do. Obviously, please don't do anything   spammy, but there is often a way to include a link to the site (or to a single   store coupon page) in a way that it is a useful contribution to the forum. We   have seen several links from forum posts occurring naturally.

TELL YOUR FRIENDS:

You don't have to email everyone you know about the site, only those people   who like to save money.

Thanks in advance, I really appreciate your help and I hope to catch up with   you more (or see you in person) soon.

Warmly, Jonathan

Critical New Protocol for Heart Attack Victims

"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy

HEADLINES:

Do any of you run an effective monthly meeting involving your broader management team? I'm writing a monthly column on the importance of the monthly meeting vs. the weekly and daily and I could use some good case studies -- what you cover, who participates, the impact on the development of the management team and performance of the organization. Please email me at [email protected]   -- thank you!

Critical new protocol for heart attack victims -- in case you didn't see this important cover story in Newsweek -- two things to remember: quickly chilling someone down to a 92 degree body temperature helps with all kinds of injury recoveries (only 200+ hospitals out of 5000 have the equipment -- find out if yours does); and more importantly, giving people pure oxygen for more than a few minutes actually makes people, whose brains were deprived of oxygen, (drowning, heart attack, stroke) crash within 24 hours -- they now know the mechanism why. Lesson, get people off oxygen quickly!! Read   this article -- and I've confirmed that my own doctor has read it

Napoleon's surgeon general first noted -- infantrymen who recovered from battle injuries lying on the cold Russian ground recovered much better than officers lying next to the warm fire. Put this in your "life's little ironies" file! As the article said, could it really be this simple?

Pure oxygen is damaging? -- Who would have thought, but it makes sense once you look at the data. This is why we must continue to challenge "conventional" wisdom. If I'm not careful, I'll start into a rant about how conventional wisdom has hurt our educational and healthcare systems -- and why we're spending more and more and getting less and less -- but I'll save you the rants. In this case, the good guys are prevailing.

That's it -- the lazy days of summer (northern hemisphere) are catching up with me -- please take the time to read this one article -- hard to lead your company if you die.