Hi guys,

Just a quick entry. Have a few thoughts I will compile into some blog posts soon.

I am working on two new ventures. I can't tell you too much about them just yet but one is to do with Angel Investing and the other is to do with Facebook. Watch this space.

Hope all is going well for you. If you have a few spare minutes, please drop by my site and leave a comment on what you are up to... it would be great to hear how you are going.

Kind regards,

Josh Moore

Hey everyone,

I've decided to make a number of changes to the way I post. I will be posting more content about a lot of different topics and will be posting less frequently.

The way I see it in my head is that these posts will be fortnightly/monthly or longer apart. They will provide a lot of half mulled ideas which will leave you fine and creative people to do with them as you wish. They will also be aimed at a quality audience (which I have) rather than a quantity audience (which I'd prefer not to have).

The decision comes from reading a number of blogs, blog posts and books which I have found provide the most value.

It also may come to pass that I decide to pull out most/all of my previous posts from this blog. I would rather have a quality archive before I update this site than have a quantity of articles that I would shudder reading today.

Here is the random thoughts I have been having recently, which may be of some use to you:

• Four weeks ago, my computer of the last two years died after heavy use. I decided to buy a Macbook Pro after thinking about buying an Apple laptop for close to ten years. Although it was a tough month, it would have been harder if I had not developed a savings buffer to cover me. Save as much mone yas you can. Cash is a better investment for people with less than $100k assets than just about anything else you can purchase with it. If you have debt, pay it off and then save.

• We were given two ears to listen more than we speak. The thing that happens in between is called thought. We should listen, think, speak when encouraging and always seek to give more than we request.

• Simplicity is key. I am happiest when in the close company of a few key friends. I don't need more but less. I have almost everything I want and already feel I could get rid of a lot. Success is a word that people that is so overused I am planning to redefine it in my life. Success will not come when I have more money, a house, etc. but when I have nothing left to take away.

• Why buy shares? Why purchase a house? Rent and start your own businesses instead.

• The trick to successful relationships is to provide an environment where the other person feels comfortable.

• Avoid tertiary education like the plague. Well at least uni. I've learned more in TAFE courses than I have in uni, and it cost me less than $1,000 (as opposed to $25,000).  Learn the way people who never finished school achieve. Then follow their lead. Chances are, you will get better results and won't feel the need to justify your intelligence with a piece of paper.

• Spending money to learn what you don't want to do the rest of your life is not a bad investment. In fact, it's probably the best investment you can make. I've also found you learn more from failure than from success.

• Written letters are the bomb. I have been getting a lot of post cards recently and they are ten times better than tweets or updates on facebook.

•  A few years ago I worked for an entrepreneur who owned about ten investment properties and two businesses. He told me that years prior he bought a Saab turbo for $90,000. Two years after buying it he sold it for $40,000. Ever since, he has kept the keyring as a reminder that 'cars are a waste of money'.

For those of you who saw the time management lecture of Randy Pausch I linked to, here is the other one he did:

- Check your mobile first, or turn off mobile email sync. Too often I will send an email while on the computer and will receive an email to both my phone and pc, requiring me to read and delete it twice.
- Respond less. The more emails you reply to, the more you will receive. - Setup a junk email account. Check it once a month or not at all. Useful when an email is required to sign up to things.
- Check it less. Twice a day should be plenty.
- Keep it short. - Turn off all social network email updates.
- Consider deleting your signature. People know who you work for based on your email address. They can contact you via email. At most, your name and phone number should be maximum (unless required by your employer).

How do you save time and reduce email clutter?

It's a good idea to set things up in such a way that your online material provides the opportunity for you to build relationships with leads offline. Likewise, getting outside and networking in the real world can help you to forge new relationships which can then be maintained using online systems.

If you want to make more money from your online business activities, start by turning the net off. Go out and meet people in the real world. If you create a harmonious relationship between your online and offline business activities, you are sure to succeed long term.

Social Media is something used by millions of people. However, it is sometimes better for both businesses and individuals to leave it.

Picture it like this. Generally, the typical individual inolved in business has:

1. A blog: To write their own content and information to help them show up in Google rankings.
2. Facebook: To talk to people they eliminated from their life a long time ago.
3. Twitter: To talk to the people they wish were their friends nowadays.
4. LinkedIn: To provide an online copy of their resume or business card details.
5. Youtube: To post videos of themselves.
6. Others: Forums, other sites, etc. which they find useful.

It is not scalable. At the start of 2008 I used Tim Ferriss' skills to eliminate most of my email. I still find that most people who do work with me (that actually pays) use email instead of social networks to get most work done. However, the number of junk email I receive has dropped. Instead, I now receive 'Junk Updates' on various accounts, most which distract me and can cause me to spend countless hours a week on the Internet doing things that are interesting but not productive.

As a result, I am in the process of doing an 80/20 analysis of my social networking. Basically, it seems to break down like this:

1. 80% of the clutter comes from facebook and twitter. Facebook takes about 60% of the time and provides less than 10% of the value, given the key people on it can contact me via phone. Twitter was taking about 20%+ of my time since I ended up reading other peoples links which got me distracted. I've unfollowed most people (might unfollow them all) and experiment with a one-sided tweetstream for some time.
2. My blog gives me 80% of the satisfaction (it is self-reflection time) and takes 15% of the time. Also gives me the best results for my name in Google. Linkedin takes about 5% of my time and provides a lot of value including helping me to get testimonials for this site, recoomendations for my current job and a number of other benefits. Thanks to Posterous, both of these can be managed from my email account, resulting in less distraction logging into other networks.

Rather than creating more clutter, the key is to create less volume but more quality. Everyone on social media should ask themselves 'Why bother?' and conduct an 80/20 analysis of their time used. Chances are, it may prove that a heavy portion of the time spent is just not worth it.

If you haven't seen the below video, it is a must for anyone actively involved in the social media space.

Think of it like this. If you spend an hour a week building a relationship with a person who is a follower, you will end up with a follower. However, if you spend an hour a week building a relationship with a leader, you will end up with a follower and their followers too. Better still, if you are spending an hour a week building a relationship with a leader of leaders, you end up with a leader, their leaders and their list of followers.

More than anything else, this is the one thing that makes THE difference between successful bloggers and everyday bloggers. It also is what makes the difference between leaders with a massive influence, and those without.

John Maxwell wrote about this in his book 'The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership'. It is not a new notion.

The question for you is, what type of people are you investing time in? How could this one idea if implemented, change your results?

Randy Pausch, a lecturer at Carnegie Mellon was diagnosed with cancer (and has since passed). His book 'The Last Lecture' and the video of the lecture are both fantastic. However, today I just found another lecture he did prior to passing on time management.

Great reinforcement, plus a few new things. For those who want to have more time later, invest the hour and a quarter now by watching this video

***UPDATE***

Although Randy mentions that no one should need to take notes during this lecture, I did anyway. You can see my notes in the photo below.

• What do you enjoy?
• What have you been successful at?
• When do you feel you’re doing things naturally? What comes easy for you?
• What are you interested in? What grabs your attention on the news?
• What movies or books do you like?
• What makes you angry? What battles have you taken up?
• Which human needs are you most drawn to?
• What inspires you?
• What are the important lessons that God has taught you about your character? 
• What are your core convictions (that govern your actual behaviour) towards other people and relationships?

Photo courtesy of tarotastic

In my last post, I mentioned that there are skills an individual can develop that are essential to running a business that you can learn while working in employment. These skills can dramatically help one improve their chances of getting a pay raise, increasing personal brand awareness, skill development and more. I thought I would include a list of those that I consider to be important to develop:

• Google Suite skills: The day when Microsoft ran the world are coming to an end. I'm seeing more businesses turn to using the Google product suite to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Learning to setup Google Apps for your own website, as well as learning to manage documents, your calendar, email and more through Google Apps will help give you an advantage over your competition and co-workers in almost any small business position (particularly those in the tech space).
• Communication skills: These are the things you know well. Running accounts on twitter, facebook and LinkedIn with a professional appearance and clear communication skills will help give you benefits. Having strong networks is a must for those wanting to succeed in all aspects of life.
• Web skills: If your business is not online then chances are you won't be in business long. Developing brand you requires buying a domain name, learning to setup a blog and being able to keep it up to date with content that will benefit your professional portfolio. You don't need to know how to program code, but learning to write, manage content using a Content Management System (CMS) and learning the ins and outs of online asset management is valuable.
• Personal presentation: If you don't believe that a suit is still the best way to present yourself in almost every situation, simply try going to the pub two nights in a row (the first in normal clothes, the second in a suit). You will be amazed at the difference in the respect you command. Going that extra 10% with cuff links, pocket squares, ties, scarves, a quality wristwatch and great shoes will dramatically improve your success. For meetings, include a nice compendium and a quality pen will appear more professional then a Bic pen and a normal notepad.
• Promotional material: One thing social networking has taught me is that relationships are formed offline, while online supports them. Developing business cards, cover letters, resumes, etc. for your personal brand (linking back to your online activity of course) will assist you in tightening up the loose ends within your network... and with getting new and exciting positions.
• Education: Knowledge is essential to improving your odds. Statistics prove that the higher your education the higher your income. Stay at school as long as you can. Also, read as many books as possible. If you aren't doing this, your losing to someone who is.
• Work to learn: If you are in the early stages of your career, you should be working to learn vs working for money. I spent nearly two years managing a startup on really low pay to gain experiences, which will serve me the rest of my life. During the same time, my friends at uni were stacking shelves and killing brain cells. Now I earn more than them and have heaps of offers for positions post-study. It pays to sacrifice while you are young.
• Save: I surveyed my friends in my entrepreneurship degree (all Gen-Y individuals) and the decision is final: you can't rely on superannuation or others to fund your retirement. Instead of contributing to super, my friends and myself are building cash reserves that will allow us to capitalise on business and investing opportunities when the time comes. Developing the habit of saving is a crucial skill to develop as it helps you build a safety buffer in the event you become unemployed. It also teaches you to live on less, rather than buying everything you can.
• Mentors: Mentors can help provide connections, get you work and teach you knowledge it would take years to learn yourself. I have one main mentor that I catch up with monthly-quarterly, and then have areas specific mentors also. A mentor is good because they can provide advice but will also let you make mistakes if they feel they will help develop your character. Get one ASAP.
• Social: Learning to live life outdoors is important. Getting out to meet new people will help broaden your experiences and knowledge. As work takes up a lot of time, this is even more important to ensure you don't end up with 'tunnel vision'. Go out, try new things, meet people and have fun.

What other skills have you learned while working for someone that you have found to be valuable in business?