How to Be a Successful Business Leader Instead of a Turkey this Thanksgiving

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As our Canadian Thanksgiving is next week (I know our neighbors in the States don’t celebrate for some time yet), I thought it appropriate to give thanks to you – our dedicated and loyal followers with my top five leadership tips.

Don’t be a turkey this holiday season, be the leader your people want to impress and follow, by deploying these tidbits in your business.

1. Open Doors Create Open Communications

The biggest challenge in every office is getting everyone to simply talk to each other. Everyone from the janitor to the CEO gets so caught up in their own thing, they fail to take – no – make – time to talk to others.

Your door should always be open – except when you’re in a meeting or really can’t be disturbed – so that your teams feel comfortable approaching you when they want.

Leaders that sit behind closed and locked doors shut out their people, and remember, everyone follows your lead. If you are a closed mind, your teams will be closed minds too.

And you don’t want that – so always keep your door open.

2. Create an Open Dialogue with Your Teams

Building on the previous tip, having an open door is just part of the communications solution, as the leader, you have to set the example and the tone. TELL every single person you work with – whether they report to you or not – that your door is always open. Invite everyone you work with to come and see you for anything – no matter how silly or small.

Encourage your people to be just as approachable with each other. Reward those who follow through, and demonstrate their openness to other team members. Mentor those that aren't being open, they may be shy, or just need a little inspiration to get going.

3. Get Out of Your Office

Last one on communications – I promise! Having an open door policy and encouraging people to be approachable again is only part of the communications solution. You need to get out of your office and make cubicle visits.

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Throughout the week, randomly walk amongst your team members, asking them how they are. Ask them about their work. Tell them you are here to help – ask how you can help them – then do whatever you can to help.

Be it assigning another resource to a project, re-evaluating a project's budget, even rolling up your sleeves and taking on some of the work – that’ll really impress your team, because it’ll show them how helpful you are, and that you really are in their corner.

4. Reward Don’t Punish

To err is to be human, we all make mistakes. The best leaders reward those who do good, the poor leaders punish those who don’t.

When I worked for American Express, our leader would publicly humiliate, chastise, and ridicule anyone that screwed up during our project meetings. She was demeaning and cruel, and everyone feared and hated her.

No one gave her their best effort, and the projects – and ultimately the company – suffered because of it.

Don’t be a tyrant and a bully like my former vice-president at Amex

.

Even you make mistakes – yes you do.

How would you like it if someone yelled, cursed, hissed, and angrily stared you down publicly in a room of 50 or more of your co-workers?

Sometimes, I swear I saw gobs of spit spewing out of that horrid American Express leader. How she got to be in charge of anything bigger than a broom closet, for the third largest credit card company in the world, is beyond me . . .

Reward those who do amazing, wonderful things.

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Reward those that do good too – everyone should be made to feel successful and on the right track – no matter how big or small their contribution is to your team.

And when someone messes up, don’t get your up against the wall and punish them. The best leaders teach, instruct and inspire their staff to do good. Show them how they can do better, and guide them through it.

5. Share the Spotlight with Your Team

At a party full of people, there is always that one person that naturally attracts others to him or her. They are the ones making everyone laugh and smile. They are the ones telling the greatest stories, getting into the best conversations, having the biggest laughs, the most smiles. They own that room, even if they aren’t the host.

Ever wonder how that one person somehow manages to attract everyone?

Here’s the secret – although they appear to be the centre of attention, actually they aren’t. They are sharing the spotlight with everyone around them.

They laugh and smile invitingly to everyone that is in on the joke. They are extremely observant, and draw people in by noticing the little things about those around them, and then showing a genuine interest in those little things.

It’s like they bring their own spotlight, stand in the middle, and anyone that walks by, they engage on such a personal level, that passersby naturally wander into the spotlight, and share in its warm glow.

Share the spotlight with your team. Be the person that everyone wants to be around, by simply being engaging, inviting, interesting, and above all else – genuinely interested in everyone around you.

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People respond when you show a genuine interest in them and their well-being.

Combine that interest, affection and sense of fun with the other tips above, and whether the people on your team stay with you forever, or move on in their career, they’ll always fondly think of you as the best boss they ever had.

As a leader, you want that. You want that bad.

Isn’t Social Media Just Shameless Self-Promotion – YES IT IS – That’s Why You Need to Be Using It to Shamelessly Self-Promote Your Business

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We live in a very anti-social, social media world.

No, that’s not a typo – social media is anything BUT social.

Think about it – how many “friends” do you have on Twitter that you actually know? And by know, I’m not talking about sharing tweets.

Let’s put it this way, how many “friends” do you have on Twitter that you’d invite into your home for dinner? Not a coffee shop, not some sleazy bar, or worse – street corner – your own private residence.

Asking myself that same question, I currently have 4,376 followers on Twitter. Of those amazingly awesome folks following me, I’d guess I probably really only know a couple hundred, when you consider friends, family and business associates.

Of those 200 people, I really only know about 50 that I know well enough to invite into my own, personal, private, living space.

So, out of over 4,000 “friends” on Twitter, I really know about 50 of them. Do the math – I only really know 1.25 percent of my Twitter followers.

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According to statistics, that’s about right. Studies show the average Twitter user only really knows between one to two percent of those who follow them.

One to two percent – that means, on average, 98 to 99 percent of those happy smiling faces that follow you on Twitter are complete strangers.

Doesn’t sound all that social at all.

Twitter is just like walking down a busy street, yelling: “look at me.”

BINGO!

Social media is just shameless self-promotion, that’s why you need to be using it to shamelessly self-promote your business.

If everyone is using Twitter, facebook, YouTube, Google Plus, Vimeo, Pinterest, Instagram, even Linkedin to shamelessly promote themselves – then you need to be doing that too.

I know – that’s not very social. Walking down a busy street, yelling: “look at me” is hardly the behavior that’ll win you long lasting friends you can count on when you really need them.

But that’s the new world order, thanks to smart phones, tablets, free WiFi, and coffee shops filled with people, none of whom talk to each other -- even at the same table!

Talking?

That’s old school.

Besides, no one cares about you.

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They are too busy taking selfies to show off their new hat, tweeting about what they had for lunch, or posting a really nasty review about the waiter that kept putting his finger in everything he brought to the table.

No one cares about you.

They are busy shamelessly self-promoting their own self interest.

However, the smart social media entrepreneur knows that social media isn’t about making friends, fans and followers.

No.

It’s about doing something that gets you noticed by the most self-absorbed generation since – well okay – there never has been another generation so interested in themselves, that they will walk into on-coming traffic, because they were eyes-down, self-absorbed into their mobile device.

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You have to use social media as a business person to get into the eyeballs of your customers, so in their own self-interest, they share your posts with their friends. And their friends share it with their friends, and so on, and . . .

That’s the real power of social media in business.

Despite it being wrongly named “social” – it really should be called “self interested media” or “anti social media” or anything but social.

Social media is just shameless self-promotion, but that’s why you need to be using it to shamelessly self-promote your business.

Just Because You Run a Small Business Doesn’t Mean You Should Answer the Phone Like Your Kid

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Entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes, much as their businesses do.

Sometimes you’ll never know they run a small business unless you actually meet them.

Then, there are others, that have the telltale signs of being a small business:

• Their email address is a Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or some other free one.
• Their email address is firstname@companyname.com
• Their web address is some free-hosted site.
• When you call them, they answer the phone as your kid does when you’re calling him downstairs for dinner.

Seriously, I’ve been talking to a handful of small business owners recently, and more than just a few answered the phone in such an unprofessional manner, I had to double check to see if I dialed the wrong number.

“Yo,” is not an acceptable way to answer your phone if you want to be taken seriously as a professional.

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Neither is: “Hey, how ya doin’?”

Nor does: “What?” inspire great things when calling someone you might be looking to hire.

How you answer the phone makes a big difference, even if you’re running a small business.

You’d think this would be common sense, however, as with most things in life, common sense doesn’t seem to be all that common.

When you answer your work line as above, you instantly put your potential customers on edge.

“Does this bozo really think I’m going to pay him for his services?”

How can you trust someone with your money, if they can’t answer the phone like an adult?

Unless I’m calling a stand-up comic, or someone that works in a business where light-hearted fun is the business, anything as the above tells me I’ll be looking elsewhere to spend my cash.

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So, how should you be answering your work phone?

A good rule of thumb is to simply say your first and last name as the introduction: “John Smith.”

That works in the mega-huge faceless corporate world, so it also works in a small business.

Though adding some personality and customer service isn’t a bad idea: “Hi, this is John Smith, how can I help you?”

Want to sound like a big company? Use the company name in your greeting: “Thanks for calling XYZ Inc., this is John, how can I help you?”

We’ve all heard the saying, you never have a second chance to make a first impression – that is very true on the phone, especially if this is the person’s first time calling you and your business.

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If you don’t sound like a reputable, professional person, you won’t get that person’s business.

Competition in all fields is immense these days, so you really don’t have a second chance to make that all important first impression.

So, unless you’re a Sylvester Stallone impersonator, answering your business phone: “Yo” just doesn’t cut it.

Once you’ve established a rapport with someone, and know the number, then perhaps you could answer slightly less formal.

However, that’ll never happen, if you scare off potential customers by answering your phone like your kid.

So, until that time, always answer the phone like a business person – unless of course, you don’t want to be in business.

Never Toss Anyone Under The Bus

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Years ago, when I worked in the corporate world, I remember sitting in on a project meeting that still to this day sends a cold chill down my spine.

My team was designing a new learning platform for one of the big automakers, and this was just one of our regular project meetings to update the client on our progress.

As we showed off our latest developments, one of the team leads for the client scoffed at one of the images used in the application.

Immediately – and probably without thinking – one of my team’s project leads said: “Oh, that’s what happens when designers use clip art, sometimes they just toss any ol’ thing in there – we’ll change that right away!”

The problem, that wasn’t clip art, it was a painstakingly hand-drawn graphic, by one of our top designers – who happened to be sitting in on this meeting -- and it was specifically requested and approved by the client months ago.

I saw the poor designer turn ghostly pale and sink into her chair.

She didn’t want to be in that room.

And after her silent tears turned into audible sobbing, neither did anyone else.

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I suggested we take a five-minute break, and you could almost see the vapour trails as most raced out of that room, leaving just me and the sobbing designer.

Luckily, I was able to turn things around, and I even managed to get her laughing and joking with me about the silliness of the situation.

However, my discussion later with the person who threw her under the bus was not so jovial.

He didn’t have anything personally against the graphic designer, he just did what unfortunately a lot of people still do in business – kiss the client’s butt.

My problem with people that think butt-kissing is the best way to build and foster client relations, is that they won’t hesitate for a second to blame themselves, or a member of the team to satisfy a client’s complaint – no matter how ridiculous – as in this situation, where the offending art was actually requested and already approved by the client.

Never throw anyone on your team under the bus.

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Blame doesn’t get you any further in business – or anything else in life.

All blame does is create unnecessary frustration and anger with those the blame is directed at. Hardly an efficient or effective way to solve a problem.

That’s what the team lead should have done – suggest a solution to the problem.

As a team lead, he should have known that the artwork in question was already signed-off by the client.

He should have NEVER blamed anyone on any team.

I’m just glad he didn’t blame our client for approving artwork they didn’t like – that would have been a bigger fire to put out.

Never throw anyone on your team, or anyone’s team, under the bus.

I have never seen a personal or professional problem resolved by blame.

Blame is just a way to pass the buck. It shifts the attention away from working towards a solution, by pointing a finger at someone, and saying: “this is your fault!”

Blame is a huge problem in offices around the world. It creates hostile workplaces, where no one wants to be, because you never know if one day, you’ll be the one taking the blame.

Don’t blame people on your team, in your office, or in your company for anything ever.

Blame is bad for those you blame.

Blame is bad for those who blame you.

Blame is bad for the entire corporate culture, as it creates an environment of fear and angst.

Blame is bad – period.

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Next time you feel the urge to blame someone, go punch a pillow, to relieve the stress, and then work out a solution that does not assign blame.

Because any solution that blames someone else isn’t a solution, it’s just another way of saying: “not my problem.”

As part of the team, every problem is yours – that’s the whole point of being on a team.

But that’s another rant, for another day.

Has Linkedin Become Just Like Every Other Social Network?

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Social media is a great addiction of mine.

I enjoy checking out my Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, Tumblr, Instagram . . . you see why it’s so addictive?

When each one of these first started, people actually posted quality, interesting things that might be useful.

Believe it or not, there was a time when there was more than celebrities getting themselves into hot water, useless quotes from long since dead famous people, pictures of gorgeous women in skimpy outfits, and cat photos dominating the social networks.

As each of the social networks matured, they unfortunately deteriorated into much of the above – don’t believe me?

Skim through the trending content on any given day, and you’ll see pretty much all the above mindless drivel.

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There still are some jewels in the rough on social media. Great infographics that turn complex processes into easy to follow steps. Sometimes even the latest news breaks first online, instead of CNN, BBC or CBC.

However, Linkedin – that’s always been the professional network, where people only post content relevant to their career or business, and use it to connect with those business people.

That may be changing, sadly.

Oh, I have yet to see the mindless crap that passes for content on the other social networks appear on Linkedin.

However, Linkedin is very different from just a handful of years ago.

When Linkedin began, it was a great place for professionals to network, to build connections, to reach out to one another for legitimate career or business opportunities.

I’d send out an Inmail, or email to one of my Linkedin contacts, and receive a response, which would lead to a discussion, and possibly an opportunity.

Recently I noticed, my Inmails and emails to my contacts were being ignored.

Now, that doesn’t seem to professional to me.

At the very least, a professional would send a polite response back saying “not interested.”

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To be clear, I wasn’t selling anything. I’m an entrepreneur, and as I build a business, I often explore Linkedin, and reach out to people whose profiles may be a good fit with the business I’m building. I may be looking for business partners, employees, or even someone that might be interested in working for us on a contractual basis.

I’m not recruiting others for some borderline legal Multi Level Marketing (MLM) scam, nor am I asking for any investment.

I’m just reaching out to people whose profiles match with what I’m doing, to have a professional chat and see if there is a good fit.

That’s all.

And I thought I was expressing that in my communications.

But still, out of a handful of Inmails and emails sent, only a couple generated any response.

So, I began asking people why they don’t respond to messages on Linkedin.

I asked people who responded to my messages. And I asked people that I actually know over the phone, if they too ignore messages from others on Linkedin.

The results of my informal survey were sadly stunning – there is so much SPAM, scam and other junk communications coming across Linkedin, that most people treat it just like any other social network.

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They post stuff, hoping it gets lots of traction, but ignore anything directed at them from anyone they don’t actually know.

That's beyond tragic.

Because, if everyone is being bombarded with so much crap, they ignore everything from anyone they don’t really know, then the one good thing about Linkedin is gone forever – the ability to really connect with others professionally.

Linkedin has become nothing more than another Facebook. They might as well add the option to poke people on it, because it’s so dominated by SPAM, what’s another annoyance?

Perhaps this great social media experiment we’ve all been participants in has taught us one lesson. If you want to really get to know someone, pick up the phone, and call them.

Why You Don’t Know What You Need to Know Right Now and Ways to Fix That in a Hurry

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“I’m sorry, I didn’t know I was supposed to do that. . . “

“What do you mean I overstepped my authority? You told me to do what I thought best.”

“You did WHAT?!?!”

Funny, sad, ironic – we live in an era where we can reach out to anyone, at anytime, anywhere across the globe – yet we don’t talk to those working for us, with us, or among us, be it around the corner, down the hall, or even standing next to each other in the same room.

It’s why you don’t know what you need to know right now.

Communication.

Or, rather – lack of communication – is why we’re constantly apologizing to our staff, our colleagues, our business partners, even our better halves.

It’s why arguments, disagreements, anger, and frustration with each other happens.

It can turn a positive, fun, and enjoyable corporate culture into a living hell.

And it’s dangerous.

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I met with a young person recently, that began as an intern, and was now charged with the task of building the business by his bosses – the owners of the business.

He told me he doesn’t use contracts, but if I wanted one, that I should just “send me anything, and I’ll sign it.”

That kind of attitude could easily cost not only this person his job, but his bosses their company.

Luckily, I’m a nice guy, and just walked away from the company.

I don’t do business on a hand-shake alone.

Though, it’s an example – a blatantly serious example – of how dangerous lack of communications in business is.

The former intern, now business developer, should have been given clear expectations of what is expected in his new role. And, you’d hope that he’d be bright enough to communicate with his boss anything that wasn’t covered, BEFORE taking action.

Because, if I wasn’t such a nice guy, I could have easily given him a lengthy contract, filled with page after page of legal mumble jumble, which he’d sign, giving me some outrageous thing that could easily bankrupt the business.

Think that never happens in business?

Years ago, investigative journalism television show “60 Minutes” did a piece about various male executives in the auto sector, taking clients to strip clubs on the day the “big deal” was to be signed. They did this, because the other male executives would be so caught up with the naked chicks, they wouldn’t notice the last minute changes made to the contracts they just signed.

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Granted, this is a form of distraction – not a lack of communications. However, it paints a nasty picture of how low corporate ethics and values may be at some companies.

So low, that a lack of communications could be a fatal blow to a business’s bottom-line.

Which brings us back to why you don’t know what you need to know right now.

Because you’ve been doing what most people do at work these days – NOT talking to your staff, your teams, your colleagues or even your boss.

Here’s how you fix that – right now.

Get to Know Your Colleagues Communication Styles

Think about who you’re communicating with and how they communicate with you. Introverts think through things on their own – so email with a follow-up call after they’ve had chance to absorb and think about it works best. 

Extroverts like to talk through a solution, so a face-to-face meeting, where you mention the issue, and let them talk, probably is the best course of action. They may also enjoy using a whiteboard, to work out their problems in a mind map.

Meet More Often, But For Less Time

Finding time when everyone can get together is tough enough, but don’t waste precious time. Shorter meetings provide a definitive end time to the meeting, making everyone focus on what needs to be done. Having more frequent short meetings – say a 10-minute checkup the next day – sets the expectation as to what everyone should be accomplishing by the next meeting, and this pattern connects people, while improving the overall workflow process.

Get Out of the Office

I’ve been known as a coffee shop fiend, for constantly taking people out to grab a coffee to discuss important and even mundane tasks. It’s a great way to break the ice, get to know your colleagues, and to establish an open communications dialogue between you and those you work with. Going out for drinks after work, grabbing lunch together, even walking to the parking lot or subway are also great ways to connect with colleagues, and open the doors of communications.

Be Mindful of How You Respond

Quick – your colleague is yelling and screaming at you. Do you:

1.  Yell and scream back
2. Try to talk loudly over their yelling to drown them out
3. Talk softly, slowly, and deliberately in between their outbursts
4. Walk away, ignore them – how dare they yell at you!

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The correct answer is 3 – talk softly, slowly and deliberately in between their outbursts. By lowering your speaking voice, you take the passive stand, and force them to listen to you. By slowing your speaking style, you send out a wave of calm, over their angered storm. And by waiting for them to stop talking, before you talk, you are showing you are listening to them – instead of just brushing them off.

If the yeller is relatively normal, they’ll calm down, so you can both work through the problem, rather than getting into a yelling match, or worse, a fistfight.

Be aware of how your responses can improve the situation, or make matters worse. Try to aim for a calm collaboration, rather than heated debates. Think about what your body language is saying, your tone of voice, your level of volume – all can be just as important as what is actually said.

The main thing from all of this is to get you to communicate with each other. Because not knowing what you need to know right now, is killing your business.

Starting a Business? Five Things to Put Your Start-Up Funds in First

Let’s face it, when you start a business, money is tight. So where do you put your limited amount of funds to get the ball rolling?

Here are my top five places to invest whatever money you have at the beginning, because without them your business may never fly.

1. Name Search and Incorporation

What’s in a name?

Plenty if you’re running a business. Names are more than a way of branding your business, they are legally required for tax purposes. Incorporating your business is a small price to pay at the beginning, rather than personally be wiped out financially by a law suit which holds you personally accountable for your business, instead of your incorporated business.

On the flip side of this, I actually find it hard to start a company without a name. I suppose it’s just my logical brain in action.

Take time to brainstorm several possible names for your new business, and then conduct a corporate names search to ensure no one else has a similar name. In most North American jurisdictions, it’s illegal for you to operate a business under a name which is currently in use within the same business sector or industry. Though it’s usually best to make sure no one currently uses that name in any business or industry sector – I often make up words for my company names.

Once you establish a name for your business – that isn’t already in use – register it so no one else can use it. Then get a good business lawyer that specializes in start-ups, and incorporate that business.

This way, you have your name, and the legal paperwork to back everything up.

2. Logo and Slogan

Starting a business really can be a fun and creative process – first you have to brainstorm a name – now you get to go all artsy and design a logo and even a slogan.

Many people don’t think they need a logo for their new venture right away. Who’s going to see it, as I’m still developing the business plan?

However, a good logo separates you from your competition, gives you a professional image, and both are extremely important elements in the ultimate goal for our first five places to spend money on your new venture – networking. If you don’t have a logo, a catchy one-line slogan that summarizes what you do, and the rest of my top five list here, you’ll be constantly struggling to tell people who you are, and what you do at networking events. And when you start out, networking is really important, because real entrepreneurs help each other.

3. Website and Email

You don’t need a fancy website with all the bells and whistles when you’re starting out. But you do need one that at least has some basic info – like your logo, slogan, and how to contact you.

Getting a website forces you to register your company’s name for a domain name – which is really important. Some people I know run their chosen company names through the WHOIS database to ensure they can secure the matching domain name. If the domain name is already taken, they won’t name their company that.

I’m old fashioned, and love the dot-com domain extension. To me, that’s the one most people are going to try first on Google and the other search engines if they don’t have it in front of them. 

However, if you have the money, it doesn’t hurt to register the most popular domains for your company – the “dot” org, net, biz, info, and co. If you’re in Canada, you might also add .ca to that list, or .us for American-based companies.

This protects your business from copycats, or worse, others using your company’s names, or even ones really close to it, and just creating a different dot-something or other using your company’s good name.

Once you have your web domain setup, and a basic website, you can also get a professional email address. Although Google’s gmail is a fantastic program, when I see john@gmail.com I just know I’m dealing with an amateur. There’s no harm in looking like a big impressive company, so use firstname.lastname@companyname.com as your email address – or whatever your professional domain is.

Remember, an email address and domain name aren’t just for communications – but for PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATIONS.

4. Office Phone and PO BOX

Unless you want your customers and everyone you do business with to call you at home, I’d get a separate phone number and a PO Box for the mailing address. This way, you protect your family and yourself from anyone that happens on your business contact info. A separate phone line is important, even if you’re running your start-up from your home, because the last thing anyone that is going to do business with you wants to hear, is your kid answer the phone, and yell: “Dad, phone!”

5. Business Cards

Once you have your registered legally incorporated business name, a logo and a slogan, a website, email address, phone number and a PO. Box, you’ve got all the basics to put it on a slick business card, so you can hand it out to potential customers, business partners, or anyone that you want to take you seriously as a professional.

Even in start-up mode, business cards with all the correct professional information are very important – what else are you going to give someone at a networking function that might be able to help you get your business off the ground?

Fear That Someone Will Steal Your Business Idea Actually Leading Cause to Start-Up Failure

I enjoy helping entrepreneurs of all stripes.

It's something I really excel at, and I learn so much from the experience.

However, it's really hard -- if not impossible -- to help someone fearful that their next big thing will be copied or stolen before they get it off the ground.

Rookie entrepreneurs stumble upon their one great, awesome, Earth-shattering business idea, and spend so much time cloaking it under a veil of secrecy I sometimes wonder if they have spent any time actually building their business.

Because it's hard to work under a veil of secrecy, constantly looking over your shoulder, worrying you are being followed, or worse, that your phones are 'bugged' and Big Brother is watching.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating just a tad.

But if you can't tell me what you're working on, I can't help you.

And if you can't tell me what you are working on, you probably won't tell potential customers either -- so you'll never get the feedback you need from them to validate your business idea, and prove it to be a viable and sustainable business.

Validation of a business idea is really important, without it, you'll never know if all the sweat, blood and tears you're putting into your business will actually pay off.

And there's lots of ways to validate a business, the quickest and easiest is just to talk to potential customers. Find out if they are willing to pay for your product or service, and if they are, how much they are willing to spend.

Validation also comes from fellow entrepreneurs, that help each other.

Not just in winning us over with your idea, but in learning how to overcome your challenges as you grow your business.

Real entrepreneurs help each other. They reach out to each other, offer guidance, advice, even a shoulder to cry on in some cases.

It's sort of the unwritten rule of entrepreneurship -- to help your fellow business pioneers. 

When I meetup with rookie entrepreneurs, that tell me they are struggling with a problem, and I offer to help, their eyes light up like the Sun breaking through the storm clouds.

As they explain their challenge, they stumble to explain their problem, using vague language, or simply leaving out important parts of the problem, as they fear I'm "fishing" for my next big thing.

Relax newbie.

No one is going to steal your idea.

Why would I even attempt to do something when you've already put in the initial legwork? I'd have to start from scratch, and that's just too time consuming -- not too mention I'd be well behind you, that already has a lot more work in the game.

Fear that someone will steal your business idea is one of the leading causes of start-up failure, because no one can help you, if you can't explain to someone what it is you are doing.

So put your fear behind you. You'll have a better chance of communicating your problems to those that can really help you, and you're business will have a far better chance of success because of it.

Beware Anyone Doing Business Completely Sans Paper

Live and learn. Or so the saying goes, but sometimes we never just learn, despite our inner voice warning us away.

Recently, I had that experience, as I had stumbled on what I thought would be a fruitful business relationship. We both had something mutually of interest to offer the other professionally, and had initially agreed upon the terms of service over the phone.

Then came time to do the deal – or so I thought. Turns out, our brief phone call was the deal, at least in the mind of the other party to this “business” relationship.

I’ve always been weary of those that won’t put things down in writing. We hear time and again how flimsy verbal agreements are, how they don’t really hold up in court because they depend on a judges’ interpretations of what each person claims the other said.

Even in our modern era of emails, instant messages and SMS text messages, I get cold feet when someone sends me the terms of a deal only via one of these digital forms of communications.

Not that I expect the worst, but anytime someone tells you "let’s just shake on it" – walk away.

I should have run away prior to latching onto one of these “business” people. Any legitimate business person wouldn’t even THINK of doing any business deal on the basis of nothing more than a smile.

That smile sure didn’t last long with this “business” person.

I got suckered in by the passion for what I do, and the opportunity to share that passion with the world. The business looked legit – they had a website.

"Hey Jordan, my five-year-old kid can create a website."

Now you tell me . . .

At first everything was great, I did my part of the deal, they did theirs. 

Then, a couple of months in, they started to change. They weren’t living up to the terms of our verbal “agreement.” Sometimes they were early, most of the time they were late.

Then for a while there was a string of early deliverables, which was followed by requests for additional ones on my part.

This wasn’t part of our original verbal “agreement” but they quickly amended our non-existent arrangement via email.

I didn’t mind, so I went along with it, for another few months. Then they asked me to do even more but at a fraction of the price.

I thought about negotiating. But how do you negotiate when you have nothing in writing to back you up? As it was, I wasn’t happy with myself for signing a non-existent agreement.

That little voice in my head kept nagging me, calling me a fool. Telling me "you'll be sorry."

I’ve been burned in the past by verbal agreements when I was young and naive. And part of me was questioning my own intelligence and business savvy, having fallen into another verbal agreement so many years later.

I declined their additional requests, but said I was happy to continue with our current “agreement.”

They obviously took great offense to this, as the pattern of their lateness began again – even increasing to the point where I started wondering how I was ever going to exit this situation gracefully and without harm to my interests.

Then they decided to give me “notice” via email to amend our non-existent agreement cutting both their and my deliverables down by half.

"How can you give me notice for a contract that doesn’t exist?" I scoffed.

Then it dawned on me, you can’t. There’s nothing binding between us. They have nothing to give “notice” on, for or with, according to my legal team. In fact, if you don’t have anything in writing, there is no binding agreement. The word "notice" has to refer to something already defined in writing, usually (but not exclusively -- my lawyers point out) another word: "term."

A verbal contract is no more binding than the air it is “written” on.

“You might as well have signed it with invisible ink,” said one legal expert.

So you’re free to leave it at anytime, and without any notice he tells me.

And that’s what I did.

Though I did let them know via email.

I wanted to send a letter. 

You know, one of those old fashioned documents printed on paper. 

I like things in writing. I’m funny that way.