Keep a journal

From time to time we all need to bitch about clients, suppliers and colleagues.  When you work alone there is a sometimes a danger in that any human contact becomes a surrogate for these 'office conversations'.  Before you know it you're spraying your world with indiscretions.

My solution is to keep a journal.  That's a grand name for what is actually a series of MS-WORD files kept very separate from my work folders on my computer.  I don't write every day, only when I feel compelled, but when I do I allow myself to write down absolutely anything I'm feeling.  Because no one else will ever read these pages I can use them to hope, plan and most importantly vent.

Writing honestly is its own reward.  Over the ten years I've been doing this I've assembled a record of conversations with myself that is now a genuine resource.  Let's say I'm nervous about an upcoming meeting, I can easily review how I felt last time I was in a similar situation; what did I write before the meeting and what did I write afterwards?  What went well and what would I have done differently?

We've all heard the Socratic quote, 'An unexamined life is not worth living'.  Isn't one of the joys of self-employment the opportunity to live an 'examined life'?

Client dinners

This week I ran a two-day project for a UK client  at a country house hotel in Oxfordshire.

As is expected at such events I dined with the team in the evening.  This wasn't a chore as it was a small group of mature, interesting professionals who were very comfortable for the conversation to flow between work and non-work topics.  Most but not all drank wine.  As I had emails to attend to I left as the others ordered coffee.

As corporate dinners go this was a good one.  The bad ones begin with a group decision to abuse the company Amex and end with a drunken argument (or worse) with the management when the hotel bar closes.  The worst client dinner I can recall ended with the police being called.

As an external supplier its a common sense rule that you never get drunk in front of a client.  A less obvious caveat to that rule is that you should never bear witness to a client's drunkenness. 

There is no upside whatsoever in dealing with a client who was vomiting in a gutter the last time you saw him.

Jet lag

I flew to the US last Tuesday evening and home again on Friday night.

Whilst in the US I was fine, functioning at an extremely high level and converting a trip that I was ambivalent about into a real winner.  But since getting back to London I've struggled against fatigue.  I had a comedy gig on Saturday night (preparation for my Edinburgh Fringe Festival show) that went well enough but since then I've been unable to think straight.  I'd planned a relatively short To Do List for today but I'm not sure how I would've coped if I'd been genuinely busy.

I know its no more than a cost of doing business and I feel guilty about complaining even here (see previous posts) but sometimes I worry that my fortysomething body is feeling its age.  I read somewhere that typical 'active' McKinsey's consultant is in his or her early 30's; on days like this I understand why.

Back in Princeton

Work has taken me back to the US.  I arrived yesterday after a progression of travel disasters that will one day make a great stand-up routine (let's just say I found myself at a Starbucks at 530am, with my bags, hotel-less and into my 20th hour of wearing the same clothes).

That afternoon I had a meeting with a prospective client, a guy I've built up a decent relationship with over the last four months, and I was faced with a problem: what to say about my nightmarish travel experience?

I'm on the horns of a familiar dilemma.  Riffing about the series of mishaps is a chance for us to bond.  The reason why so many comedy routines are travel-centered is that 'the travel disaster' is a universal experience (amongst the middle class people who go comedy shows at least).  Talking about my day will act as an ice-breaker and we can have some fun swapping stories before getting down to business.

But in doing so, am I accentuating the fact that I am a UK-based supplier trying to break into the US market, at some level I'm reminding him that I'm not based in New York or Philadelphia?  Even if its only at a subconsciously, am I restating the fact that travel experiences like yesterday have to be factored into my costs in some way?

The situation was even more pronounced when I lived in Sydney, which is at least ten hours flying time from anywhere.  The fact that much of the world sees Australia as an exotic place was always a potential negative for me: what could I gain by reminding the client that when the project's over I'm going back to somewhere exotic and he isn't?

Never complain about jetlag and save the 'travel nightmare' stories for friends and family.

Response times

My rule of thumb is as follows: -

Phone call: respond in 12 business hours or less

Email: respond in 24 business hours or less (or Sunday night)

I gain absolutely nothing from stalling on client response.  Any thoughts that I might seem desperate are in my head.  Why wouldn't I want to signal that I'm eager, enthusiastic and ready to work at every opportunity?

Presence

For over ten years every page of every document I create has my email address on it.  Every person who has ever met with me has walked away with a document.  Where possible I try to agenda phone meetings with pre-sent PowerPoint presentations so that everyone has the same visuals in front of them simultaneously.  Of course my email address appears on every slide.

Presence in a marketplace is built up over years.

Business cards

My very first business card carried seven pieces of information: -

1. My name
   
2. Company name
3. Office number
4. Fax number
5. Pager number
6. Street address
7. Mailing address

When mobile phones and email came along that ballooned out to ten pieces: -

1. My name
2. Company name
3. Office number
4. Fax number
5. Mobile number 
6. Pager number
7. Street address
8. Mailing address
9. eMail address
10. Website

The card was a disaster zone.  I had to beg graphic designers to take on the project

The impression I wanted to create was that (a) not only was I the most contactable man on the planet; but also (b) that my business was substantial enough to have a street address and a receptionist.  It all cost money: phone, fax, mobile, pager, email and postal address to be contacted, plus a street address (that I didn't otherwise need) to give the impression of substance.

I was so terrified of seeming insubstantial and coming across as 'fly by night' that I was renting an office to create an impression for clients who couldn't have cared less.  

Contactability is all that matters and now my card carries only five pieces of information: -

1. My name
2. Company name
3. eMail address
4. Website
5. Mobile number

The only people who ever have a problem with this are individuals within client organisations who are politically opposed to my project, and competing suppliers.  Uncannily, both use the phrase 'fly by night'.

With 'political' opponents I respond by saying that I operate across so many time zones it makes no sense to have a receptionist answering the phones for only eight of 24 hours.  Besides, if you really do want to contact me you'll call my mobile anyway.

With competing suppliers it's all about competitive advantage.  If I take on unnecessary overheads then I lose mine.