A Salesperson's Guide to Dealing with Salespeople

Though the OpzGuy Blog was primarily started as a place for me to share my thoughts, experiences and learning from the Operations role in a number of different internet startups, occasionally I will take time to share my other interests as well as things I've learned in other roles that don't apply to Operations. This is one of those posts.

I'm a little strange

I actually like going to sales presentations. If there's going to be free food or other goodies, I'll sit through almost any sales pitch, except for multi-level marketing. I realize most people out there would rather punch their eye in the face then attend a sales presentation, no matter what free gift they are promising at the end. However, try as hard as you might to avoid them, we will all end up in sales situations that can be difficult and uncomfortable. So in this post I hope to give some suggestions that have made these situations bearable and even enjoyable for me.

In my last post, I mentioned that I have done a number of commission-based jobs in the past. I wasn't great at sales and found Operations suits me much better, but I have actually tried my hand at selling a lot of different things, including:

• Pest-control door-to-door
• Used and new cars
• BYU Football and Basketball ticket packs door-to-door
• Setting appointments for Wyndham timeshare presentations
• Setting appointments for a financial service company

Not to mention the 2 years I spent knocking on doors in Japan finding people who wanted to learn more about Christianity and the beliefs of the Mormon Church, which I think is very applicable.

A positive experience
A few years back my wife and I were at a Home Show and saw a booth where you could spin to win $5. The booth was busy so we walked past but as we turned the corner to the next aisle I couldn't take it anymore and I went back to spin the wheel. I didn't win the $5 but I did get signed up for a timeshare presentation. A few weeks later, we attended the sales pitch and were really impressed. We didn't end up buying a timeshare and even managed to end the pitch in less time than they'd promised at the beginning. I thought the whole thing was so much fun I ended up working for Wyndham signing people up for the presentations at similar events and on my first day I found out I could buy the timeshare for 50% off as an employee.

Since then, I've purposefully sought out and gone to many other timeshare and other sales presentations. Luckily, my wife is really cool and as long as I do most of the talking she agrees to come with me. The amazing thing is that in the last few years of doing this we haven't had a single bad experience. Maybe we've just been lucky enough to get the only nice and non-pushy salesperson in the room every time. Or maybe there is something about the way we handle these situations that is just better. Here are my suggestions on how to make these situations as painless as possible:

Principle 1: Never Say No.

The first thing every salesperson is taught is how to respond when a potential customer says No. In training, salesreps spend hours practicing exactly how to get around No's. Sales teams often have contests for the rep who can overcome the most No's in one pitch. So just understand, the second you say No to a salesperson, their instincts take over and they can't help but double their efforts. It is their hot button.

Principle 2: Don't Argue.
I understand that salespeople can be the most frustrating people in the world. There are certain salespeople that really bug me, but the worst thing you can do is argue and think the quickest way out of the door is by winning a verbal battle.

Many salespeople are born debaters and love a challenge so this is another way to queue their killer instincts. If there are things you don't like about their product or service, just let it go. Telling them specific things you don't like will only make them fight harder to convince you to buy. No matter what, don't ever let a salesperson think your reason for not buying is due to something you don't like about their product or service. They have been specifically trained to handle every objection you could ever come up with.

Principle 3: Tell Them You Love It.
No matter what they are selling, the easiest way to get out of a sales situation is to tell them how much you love their product. Just tell them, "This is awesome, we would love to get it, but unfortunately there's no way we can do it today." You might think this would give them the smell of blood and signal the kill shot, but in actuality it befuddles most salespeople. They aren't trained on this and have never met someone who loves the product but still won't buy it. They don't know how to handle this situation and it completely disarms them.

If you you feel like you have to give a specific reason, your best option is to explain why you just can't afford it right now due to a new baby, a lost job, major medical or other expenses, etc. However, most salespeople are trained to offer ways you can finance their product and pay little to nothing right now, so just be prepared for this last ditch effort, if you feel the need to give them a financial reason for not buying today.

The best thing to do is just keep it vague and tell them there's just no way you can do it today. 99% of salespeople are only interested in the sale today so if you can convince them there's no way that's happening, due to reasons that are out of their control, they will lose interest quickly and send you on your way. If you happen to get a salesperson who keeps a pipeline and wants to follow up with you in a few months, you can just let them know that you appreciate it but you would prefer to just follow up with them. Then immediately ask them for their card and this will end the conversation in most cases.

Wrap-Up
Last month, my wife and I got a $75 gift card for a very enjoyable timeshare sales presentation. We learned a lot, made a new friend and got free donuts. It was awesome! Now I challenge you to get out there and sign up for a sales pitch and give it a try. Never Say No, Don't Argue and just Tell Them, "This is awesome, we would love to get it, but unfortunately there's no way we can do it today." Let me know how it goes for you or if you have any other tips of peaceful ways to deal with hard sales situations.

Entrepreneur for the Wrong Reasons

We've all heard the startup failure statistics. I hear a different % for this every week, but the most common number I hear is that 90% of entrepreneurial ventures fail. I'm sure there are many reasons for this, but I'm starting to wonder if a big reason might be because many entrepreneurs are doing it for the wrong reasons.

My Entrepreneurial Story
Before I get into that, let me share a little of my history. My dad is an entrepreneur. He worked a corporate job for a few years out of college, but for about the last 25-30 years he's done his own thing. My grandpa could probably be called an entrepreneur. He is a CPA and started his own practice after just a few years of working for other people. Though, the argument could be made that a CPA starting his own firm isn't really an entrepreneurial venture.

From the time I was young, I always wanted to start my own company. During my time at BYU I had a lot of entrepreneurial, commission-based jobs and I really enjoyed them. But a few years ago I got a chance to do my first really entrepreneurial venture. My wife and I both quit our jobs at a mobile software company and started our own company selling mobile phones online. With some close friends joining us to round out the team we started a company called GBT Mobile (Horrible name, but it stands for God Blessed Texas, which I thought was a cool idea at the time).

Our 2nd year in business we ended up doing about $700,000 in sales with just the 4 of us, though we weren't actually making a profit. At the end of that year we were selected as the Fort Worth Chamber's Small Business of the Year, which was a great accomplishment for 4 people who had no idea what we were doing, but before we even received the award our startup was done. My wife and I ended up going for 12 full months without a paycheck and spent all of our savings and more.

We probably could of kept going and tried harder to make our struggling business survive, but the truth is I'd realized after being an entrepreneur for 2 short years that it wasn't really for me after all. I learned a lot of new skills in this venture but most importantly learned a lot about myself. Namely, I'm not cut out to be an entrepreneur or a CEO. I am great at implementing ideas, keeping costs low and growing a business, but prefer to work for someone else, and want someone else to make the final financial decisions and deal with the investors and the bank.

The 2 Types of Entrepreneurs

Since that adventure, I've moved back to Utah, been with a couple more startups, my latest one for the last 3.5 years. I am Employee #2 and it is a perfect fit for me. I've also had the chance to get involved in some entrepreneur and startup groups and meet a lot of people who call themselves entrepreneurs. I've met some incredible people who have proven that they can take an idea from concept to $100 million company over and over again. I've also met a lot of entrepreneurs who are struggling to get their startup off the ground. Some of these people have been struggling for years with this startup and others are on their 10th startup and hoping this is the one that will finally work for them.

It takes a lot of guts, special skills and determination to be an entrepreneur, but I'm starting to wonder if many people become entrepreneurs for the wrong reasons, namely:

1. They don't want to work for and answer to anyone else.
2. They don't like being forced to work and get along with other people.
3. They don't want to work full-time.
4. They don't want to stick with anything for too long.

I believe I've met people who have become an entrepreneur for all of these reasons over the past few months. Some of these people are strong-willed enough that they will still be successful while avoiding these things, but for most people with these biases, is it any wonder why they won't be successful as an entrepreneur?

Now I need to stress again: I think many entrepreneurs are amazing, hard-working people with more determination and resolve than I'll ever have, and I truly hope these people will be successful in their ventures. However, if someone is only an entrepreneur because they hate working for and with other people and want to work their own schedule (or barely work at all), I think they are going to find it really hard to be successful.

One more thing: There's no shame in not being entrepreneurial. I've tried both sides and can admit that starting my own company is not for me. I am not an entrepreneur. I am a startupreneur. I love having someone else worry about how we're going to get paid this month. I love working with other people. I love going to the office every day and working a set schedule. I also enjoy being involved with many of the crucial decisions, being involved in lots of different areas of the business, having more work than I can get done, and working like mad to keep costs low while increasing profits. I am a startupreneur.

If you're currently an entrepreneur or thinking of becoming one, I'd invite you to think about your reasons. Would you still be an entrepreneur if it meant you had to answer to someone else, work with people you may not like, and work a set schedule? Is it a way to avoid the things you don't want to do or is it a burning desire to build something out of nothing? Are the trade-offs worth it? What would your spouse say? If you can honestly say you are an entrepreneur for the right reasons I wish you much success and am confident that your chance of success is much better than the standard 10%.

Off-Topic Thursday - Creative People

A Review of "Crucial Conversations"

It took me a few months but I finally finished reading “Crucial Conversations”. Overall, I didn’t get as much out of this book as I was hoping for, but here are a few things I did learn from and enjoy:

How to Avoid The Sucker’s Choice
If you missed my previous post on Uncomfortable Conversations, you can see the explanation of The Sucker’s Choice here. I really liked learning about this principle and here’s how you avoid it:

1. Clarify what you really want.
2. Clarify what you really don’t want.
3. Present your brain with a more complex problem by combining the first two items into an and question that forces you to search for more creative and productive options. e.g.

• Is there a way to tell your peer your real concerns and not insult or offend him?
• Is there a way to talk to your neighbors about their annoying behavior and not come across as self-righteous or demanding?

Mastering Your Stories
In every crucial conversation whether you realize it or not, you are telling yourself a story about what is happening. You might be inventing reasons for why another person is acting how they are or filling in blanks in your knowledge in other incorrect ways. Particularly, watch out for these three clever stories:

1. Victim Stories – “It’s Not My Fault”
2. Villain Stories – “It’s All Your Fault”
3. Helpless Stories – “There’s Nothing Else I Can Do”

How to Speak Honestly Without Offending

1. Speak with Confidence
2. Speak with Humility
3. 3. Speak with Skill

What to Do When You Still Disagree?
Sometimes despite our best efforts in Crucial Conversations, you might still ended up disagreeing with the other party. In this case, remember your ABCs:

1. Find what you do Agree with.
2. Build on those points.
3. Compare the differences.

The Four Methods of Decision Making
There are four common ways of making decisions:

1. Command
2. Consult
3. Vote
4. Consensus

How to Choose Which Method to Use

1. Who cares?
2. Who knows?
3. Who must agree?
4. How many people is it worth involving?

Has anyone else read “Crucial Conversations? Did you get have any other principles that you really enjoyed? Have you implemented any of these principles in your crucial conversations with any success?

I Don't Always Test My Code...

Hiring family/friends - A review of "Atlas Shrugged"

I just finished reading "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. It took me 3 months and the only reason I made it through was because I had the audio version from Audible. There were some long rants, one monologue lasted over 3 hours in the audio version but overall it was a fascinating story with an interesting message. Without spoiling it too much it is about what happens in society when it is ruled by lazy, selfish people.

There were a lot of political and social messages in this book but the main message I took from it was this:

Need should never be the primary reason for giving someone a job or anything else.

The antagonists of the story preached that the world would be a better place if everything was shared among everyone according to their needs. In principle, this sounds like a great idea, but in practice it quickly becomes a disaster.

How does this apply to startups?

And now to my point. I have worked in a number of startups that have hired friends and family members. I've worked at 3 different companies with my wife, I currently work with my bro-in-law and have worked with my closest friends and it has almost always been a good experience.

The trouble with hiring family and friends comes when you hire them based purely on their need, not their qualifications for the job. If I know a person well enough to know I want to work with them, I also have a good idea of whether this person would be a good hire or not. In a startup, every single hire is crucial and every dollar spent on salary is way too important to make this decision lightly based on friendship or kinship.

I've often had close friends ask me to give one of their family or friends a job, "Because they really need it." I am not completely heartless to the importance of need, but I've usually found that if someone desperately needs a job and is unable to find or keep one for a long period of time, there is often a reason. If I don't know them personally, they are going to have to go through a rigorous interview process to make sure they are qualified for the position. I am most likely to be even harder on a distant acquaintance because if things don't work out it will be extremely hard resolve the situation and can harm friendships beyond repair.

If I do know someone well, I know their character well enough to know if they would be a good hire. I personally give preference to someone I know well enough to be sure they are a good employee, even if they may not have as many direct qualifications as other candidates. There are very few things that can't be taught, if I know they are a hard worker and great team player.

Anyone else have experiences working with family or friends that have gone bad? How did you handle the situation and how did it affect the relationship? How about situations that have turned out great? What did you do right in these cases?

Off Topic Thursday - AGT brings Spongetta back for the finale

Platform Horcruxes - Part 2

Last week I laid the foundation by talking about how the Lord Voldemort of your platform has successfully stopped you from moving forward by hiding horcruxes all over the system. Now for the epic conclusion. So, what can you do to prevent Lord Voldemort from rising to power in the first place or to stop him from gaining any more power over your product?

1. Hire a solid IT Manager as soon as you can. It's possible to get things going with an outsourced development firm but long-term this is going to be more expensive and costly due to their lack of ownership. Here are some key traits to look for in this position:
1. No ego (it's crucial that this person puts the long-term success of the product and company ahead of their desire to prove anything)
2. Straight forward, honest manner (you need someone who will tell you all the facts without letting their personal biases get in the way)
3. Realism (I've encountered too many developers who insist on building the Eiffel Tower when all we needed was a hot dog stand. This can't be their pet project or a chance for them to hone their skills in a new language they've been wanting to learn. They need to develop exactly what your business needs and nothing less/nothing more)
2. Make better choices. Early on, you might have to purposefully choose some paths that you will know might hurt you in the long-run just for the immediate demands of the company. But as soon as you can, make every project a chance to improve the underlying infrastructure of your platform. If you have horcruxes that are making development harder today, take the extra time to seek it out and destroy it once you have some breathing room. Every hour you spend destroying horcruxes today will save you hundreds of hours in the next few years, so take the time to do things right as soon as possible.
3. Set realistic expectations internally and externally. Start early setting longer than necessary timelines with your partners. If something is absolutely urgent, then get it done as soon as possible, but otherwise double or triple your time estimate and take the time to destroy some Horcruxes along the way. I currently work with a team of about 10 developers. Recently I sent a project to one of them who reviewed it and reported to me that he could complete this task in 30 minutes. Unless it's a simple text change or something really small, why would you ever give such a low estimate? I knew it would take him 5-10 times that long and would have preferred he would have guessed higher to begin with because it did end up taking him much longer. Of course, I quoted 5 hours to our partner and told them it would take a couple of weeks to complete, and we ended up just barely making it.

If you've been on the technical side of a web startup, you know what I'm talking about. If you've ever been on the sales/marketing side of a web starup, you're probably the cause of the horcruxes. I recently had a developer turn down a job by telling me the "code smell" of our platform was not worth the constant anxiety he knew it would be. This happens and isn't surprising. We may be losing the battle with Lord Voldemort but are still hopeful we can win the war. Can you relate?

Off Topic Thursday - Why I love AGT

How many horcruxes does the Voldemort in your platform have? Part 1

One of the biggest issues facing an internet startup is developing a solid platform that is built right from the beginning. If you've ever tried to build a platform from scratch while building a revenue generating business you know what I mean. Here are just a few of the issues you might run into:

1. When you start, you probably think you have a solid grasp on what your business will need to offer to succeed. However, the truth is you are likely only about 10% right. If your company makes it long-term it will likely be thanks to a lot of pivoting into different areas than where you started.
2. So, without having a complete understanding of the end product from the beginning, your product is likely to have a lot of pieces and features duct-taped onto the sides and not integrated as nicely as they would have been if you'd have planned for them originally.
3. Now, if you're lucky enough to have loyal customers from the beginning, they are going to grow up with you and get into the mindset that it is their personal platform, requesting customizations that your later clients would never expect. This is only going to add to the complexity and the number of features that aren't fully integrated with the system and make it hard for your platform to grow.
4. Being small and cash-strapped, every time you need an update to your platform, you are unlikely to have the time and money needed to do it right. You are going to have customers and investors screaming at you to just get it done quickly, not caring the negative effect cutting corners will have on the long-term sustainability of your product.

These and many other problems facing a new technology business will end up creating a lot of demons in the machine. Or as I like to refer to them in my platform, Horcruxes. If you've seen the Harry Potter movies, you'll understand this analogy; but if not, seriously!? Where have you been the last decade? If you're not a Harry Potter fan, let me apologize right now, because you'll probably hate this post.

In my experience at 4 different internet startups, most technology products/platforms deal with these issues. To help me from crying myself to sleep at night, I find that it helps me to think of myself as Harry Potter fighting Lord Voldemort with horcruxes hidden all over within our platform. My fellow Operations and Development teammates are fellow members of The Order of the Phoenix and we are waging a constant battle with the Death Eaters in our platform that are bent on protecting Voldemort and those darned Horcruxes.

As time passes we are constantly finding parts of the system that were designed to do what we needed it to do 3 years ago and are nearly impossible to update to do what we need in the future. These are the horcruxes and as long as they exist, the evil Lord Voldemort that keeps us from moving forward can't ever truly be destroyed. Sure, with weeks to months of work we can usually destroy a Horcrux, but I often echo Ron Weasley's sentiments in the final movie that we are never going to find them all and are doomed to failure.

Am I the only out there that relates my platform to the world of Harry Potter? Wait until you hear how my job is like the movie, "Inception". Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion and tips on how to win this epic battle for a clean, reliable platform.

Decision Making

How is the technical decision making at your startup?

Uncomfortable Conversations

"I believe that success can be measured in the number of uncomfortable conversations you're willing to have."
- from The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

As mentioned in a previous post I recently finished reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss and this quote really changed my thinking. Up until this point I had a bad habit of not voicing my opinion if I was unhappy about something. Instead I would just be upset and grumble about it, but never even discuss my concerns with anyone who could actually do anything about it.

Once I read this book, I committed to share my opinion more. If I disagree with something that is going to be a long-term concern for me, I do my best to take the first chance I have of sharing my opinion and concerns. When I do this, I try hard to not be confrontational, but to merely share my concerns and frustrations. Sometimes the other party makes a change to accomodate my concerns and sometimes they don't but either way I feel better because at least I have shared my thoughts.

The Sucker's Choice

I was so influenced by this quote I am now reading "Crucial Conversations". I will share more from this book once I finish, but I've found one thing early on in this book that has really stuck with me. The author says that when there is a crucial conversation to be had, sometimes we think it's alright to be rude or mean to the other party, rationalizing afterwards that it just had to be said. They refer to this as the "Sucker's Choice". In actuality the options of either saying nothing or saying too much are not the only choices.

Now, as my coworkers can attest, I am still absolutely horrible about this. However, I do believe strongly that in order to be successful in life you have to be willing to have the difficult conversations. I have seen so many good relationships ruined because one party is unwilling to have an uncomfortable conversation when it is so necessary. I believe it is best to be as honest with people as possible. I'm not suggesting you need to be unnecessarily rude like Piers Morgan on America's Got Talent, although I usually agree with his opinion. Instead, do all you can to create a solid relationship with people so you can have these types of conversations and move forward due to your strong mutual desire to create something better.

Have you ever seen someone's unwillingness to have an uncomfortable conversation cause a bigger problem than it prevented? What about you? Do you have the relationship with your team that allows you to openly share your opinion and be heard? How do you handle it when someone initiates one of these conversations with you?

Off-Topic Thursday - Ride Your Firebolt

Joy in the Journey

There are a lot of different personalities in the workplace and a lot of different people. There are many different ways to dissect the population; people vs. processes, analytical vs. emotional, etc. In addition to these differentiations, I've found one other way to divide the people I work with in 2 main groups: 1. Those who take joy in a journey, and 2. Those who only take joy in finishing a journey.

Being an OpzGuy myself, can you guess which side I take? I have the hardest time not picking processes over people, I am analytical to a fault, and my main goal in life is to get things done. I've come to realize that I don't take any joy from doing the work of a project. The only time I'm really happy is when I'm actually checking something off my list.

This is pretty sad, because it means I'm probably not enjoying life enough but I just can't help it. Once I start a project, I can't think of anything else until it's done. It's like an unfinished project leaves a loose end in my mind that distracts me so much I can't focus on or enjoy anything else until I finish it.

I've actually taken this a bit to the extreme. I hate having any email in my inbox. I can't leave the office for the day until I have completely cleared out my inbox. If I did leave while there was still email in my inbox I wouldn't be able to give my full attention to anything until I return to the office the next day and I probably wouldn't sleep very well with that unfinished business hanging over my head.

My coworkers have discovered this and take joy from sending me email right after I leave the office. They know I will get the email on my phone a few minutes later and it will distract me for the rest of the night. Of course, it doesn't usually bother me enough for me to respond to it that evening because I try to hard to leave work at work, but I might be better off if I just replied to it and got rid of it.

The Other Side

Now, I have a coworker who I work with closely who is the exact opposite and takes great joy in the journey. He loves the challenge of a task and is not overwhelmed by a project that might take him months or even years to complete. He enjoys the journey and revels in the things he's learning and accomplishing while working on the task. It's possible that the unfinished task may wear on him a bit as well, but overall he is much better at enjoying his day-to-day work and not being concerned about taking on a task that will take him weeks to complete.

I believe my personality might be better suited to an early phase startup, but as the startup begins to mature and get to a point where it has more resources to put into fixing bigger problems, I think the person who takes joy in the journey might be better off. My current company is hitting this phase now, and I'm having a hard time taking the time to do the big projects we need to take our business to the next level. In the meantime, my "Joy in the Journey" coworker is in his element and frankly is exactly what we need right now. I'm working to be more like him but am also glad for the contrast.

Which are you? Can you take joy in the journey or are you only happy when you are completing a task? How about the people you work with? Do you think one personality is more conducive to a startup environment?

Eliminating Redundancies

Is your Opz Team ever like this?

Project Management in a Web Startup

Project Management in a Web Startup is usually like this.

Parkinson's Law in Opz

"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion"

You might recognize this line as Parkinson's Law, which basically states that a task will take as much time as you give it. Now what does this mean for Operations in a Startup? To me, it means that you need to set strict timeframes for everything you do and don't let tasks become more than they should be.

Don't write a blank check for any task, allowing it to just "take as much time as it takes". Before you start any task, set a timeframe for completion. When you are ready to start the task, start the timer and don't allow yourself to get distracted. Complete the task within that timeframe. I recommend using a stopwatch or a website like e.ggtimer.com to time yourself. You can go to http://e.ggtimer.com/30minutes and have a timer in your web browser for 30 minutes. You can change the last part of that url to be any time that you want for your task.

Scope Creep

And now to the other part of Parkinson's Law. Not only will a task take exactly as much time as you give it, but if you give it more time than is necessary, the task will grow in your mind, which likely means that it will take even longer. If you give yourself 1 week to complete a project, then in your head that project will grow to include every little thing imaginable so it can take as long as you've given it.

However, if you only give a task 30 minutes your mind will automatically break it down to the mere essentials and figure out a way to get it done in the time allotted. I recommend giving yourself half the time you think a project should take and seeing what you can accomplish.

Give it a try and let me know if this works for you. If you're looking for another great article on how to apply Parkinson's Law check out http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/how-to-use-parkinsons-law-to-your-advantage.html.

Must-have Opz Apps

Are you looking to make the most of your time with the latest productivity apps? There are plenty of lists of must-have productivity apps out there (like here and here), but honestly I haven't found too many are worth the time they are going to save me. My list of must-have productivity apps is pretty short, but the apps below have really saved me time and increased my productivity.

Before we get to that let me state the obvious, that you if you really want to be more productive you need to get a smartphone. I personally prefer the Android platform. By the way, do you know why the last several updates for Mac computers have been named after members of the cat family? According to a great article by Eric Snider which can be found here, it's because "A Mac is like a cat, after all: it can generally clean itself up without assistance, it thinks it's better than you, and people who own a lot of them tend to be weird." Couldn't agree more.

And now to my Top 3 FREE productivity apps, in reverse order to increase the suspense:

3. Google Apps Mail, Calendar and Documents - My company recently moved our email to a free Google Apps account and it's been awesome. Get free mail hosting for up to 10 users, make it very easy to share calendars and create new company calendars, and of course share documents. Great free productivity apps for small companies.

2. Dropbox - Get 2MB's of free file storage that you can access from anywhere. I use Dropbox to keep all of my active/recently used files so I can access then from any device at any time. This also works across operating systems, on mobile devices and you can access your files through a web browser.

1. Evernote - Absolutely essential app for gathering information and task lists. The best part is you can use it on your computer and phone and if somehow you don't have either of those available, you could even login on a public computer and view your notes through the web browser.
I use this mostly to keep my personal and business task lists and then to gather data that I will need to complete my tasks. You can very easily copy an email, a webpage or any text to Evernote and can even share it or email it to another user. My only complaint is that the bulleted list editor is a bit quirky and completely sucks on the Android version, but it's well worth the quirks to be able to easily manage and share lists and information.

Do you have any other productivity apps you can't live without? Let me know if you have anything else to add to the list.

Unsuccessful Men with Talent

As I mentioned in my previous post, "B work" - The Pareto Principle in Startups, in a startup environment it is often much better to complete a "B grade" project quickly then to take a lot of time and resources to complete a project perfectly. This is why Passionate Perfectionists can have such a hard time in a startup.

Calvin Coolidge stated, "Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent." Many people are so good at what they do that doing anything less than perfection is very hard for them. However, in my experience the desire to achieve perfection can often be the biggest mistake in a startup. Usually we have such limited time and resources, it's important to be able to make do with "B work".

If you are exceptional at what you do, don't let your passion for perfection get in the way of pushing out work that is good enough for that phase of your business. This is especially important if other people are waiting on the results of your work. Many experts agree that in a technology startup it is very important to just get a product out there as soon as possible and to not be afraid of selling something you know isn't perfect.

Don't be afraid of "B work"
In my experience, regardless of how much time you spend getting customer feedback and input on how a product should work ahead of time, there will always be advancements and changes needed that no one ever imagined until the product is actually being used. So, in actuality even if you think you have completed a perfect project to begin with this probably isn't the case anyway.

In a startup trust among coworkers is crucial, but it is developed in a different way than in a big company. In a small startup, trust is developed by always being accountable to complete your projects on time. Trust is created by being the type of person who your teammates don't have to wait on and who never holds up the process.

That is why, it is far better to be able to complete all of your projects on time than to complete everything perfectly. If you want and need to to have everything completely defined ahead of time and to have all the time and resources you need to always complete every project to perfection, you might be more comfortable at a big company. This will never happen in a small company.

No excuse for "D work"
Please don't think I'm okay with not doing your best, though. There is no excuse for doing sloppy work and not paying attention to details. I'm just saying to do your best but know when it's okay to call it done and move on. Focus on the most important thing to a new company; getting things done. Hit your deadlines, move the project forward, sell it, get customers feedback and work on making the next version better. This is the way to be successful in a startup.

Are you able to hit all of your deadlines? Does your desire for perfection ever stop you from getting things done? Or can you be okay with completing "B work" and moving on?

"B work" - The Pareto Principle in Startups

I recently finished reading The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss. Let me start by saying I highly recommend this book. Just don't read it thinking you'll learn how to create a brand new business that allows you to live the lifestyle of your dreams with only 4 hours of work a week. Granted, that is the purpose of the book, but I don't think that is the reality for most people who read it. However, this book does offer a lot of valuable suggestions on how to be more productive.

If you have any desire to get more done, take advantage of some of the newest trends and technologies and properly prioritize the most important things in your business, this book is a must read! I plan on sharing some of my thoughts from this book in a number of different posts, but one of the best spots was when the author discusses how he implemented the Pareto Principle in his business.

If you don't know what the Pareto principle is, it is also known as the 80/20 rule. The author tells a story of how he used this principle to cut out the 80% of his customers who only brought in 20% of his revenue. This allowed him to focus more on the 20% who were responsible for most of his revenue, increasing revenue from them and giving him more time to find more customers just like them.

The Pareto Principle with Customers
If you are in a startup company with limited resources this will be a very valuable exercise. Honestly, though in a small company where everyone feels such ownership for things, this can be a difficult process to go through and might make for some uncomfortable conversations to start with. It's also really difficult to cut customers early on when every dollar counts. Though you may not be able to perfectly follow it today, there is value in starting the conversation now. By talking about this early, you might be able to learn some things from evaluating existing customers that will help you create more profitable situations in the future.

The Pareto Principle with Projects
Recently, I've noticed that most of our projects, whether they are implementation, operations, or web development projects seem to follow this rule. On a lot of projects we can complete 80% of the outlined requirements of a project in about 20% of the overall time allotted for it, but the final 20% usually takes the remaining 80% of the time.

This begs a very important question. How important is it to complete a project 100%, especially if the final 20% of the project will take 4 times longer than the first 80% did? I am a perfectionist, but I also hate to waste time so in these cases, I believe that in a startup, "B work" is good enough. So if after 20 hours of work, a project is 80% functional and it's going to take an additional 80 hours to get it to 100% perfection, it's just not worth it. Stick a fork in it now, cause it's done!

Time is often the only resource a startup has at its disposal and it's just way too precious to waste on perfection when "B work" will suffice. Granted, if the product doesn't work at all at 80%, then you'll have to adjust this, but find a way to make the 80% work for now and move on. If the remaining 20% is really that crucial, then it will keep coming up and you'll know you need to address it. However, you might be surprised how little that 20% mattered and it is far better to finish a task that is 80% perfect than to not finish because it will never be 100% perfect. I'll talk more about the value of completing imperfect projects later.

Let me know what you think. Does the 80/20 rule apply to your customers? Are you in a company where you can openly discuss this and get the buy-in to cut the 80% that is only responsible for 20% of your revenue? What about with your projects? Can you be okay with "B work"?

Introduction

Welcome to the OpzGuy blog, a place for me to share my passion for the Operations Role in Internet Startups. For my first -post, I thought it might make sense to start off with a little about my background. I have done Operations for 5 different tech companies in the last 11 years, 4 of which were internet startups. Though my title hasn't always been officially Operations, my roles have always been very operations-related. So far my time has been split between working in Fort Worth, Texas and Salt Lake City, Utah, where I currently reside. Here's a quick run down of my experience, in chronological order:

• 2 years as a Technical Support rep for what was then the largest web hosting company in the world. Not a startup and this job was while I was still in school, but it gave me a good technical start to my career. At the end of my time I was a Level II Tech on Unix web servers.
• 4 years as General Manager for the Asia Pacific markets for a mobile software startup company.
• 2 years founding and running my own online cell-phone store. I started this company with while working for the above company with three friends and family members and in our second year in business we did $700K in sales, with no outside capital or funding. We also won the Fort Worth Chamber Small Business of the Year Award, which was one of my proudest moments.
• 1 year as Lead Generation Campaign Manager for an inventory management startup.
• 3 years with my current company. We started as part of a larger organization, and I was the first official hire for this startup. Within our first year, we were spun out to be our own entitry. We have now been in business for just over three years and just recently broke into the Top 10 Companies on the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum Top 25 Companies Under 5 Years Old.

In most of my jobs I have been the jack-of-all-trades, which may not have always been the best thing for my career. I've found that being responsible for a lot of different roles may make you irreplaceable, but that doesn't mean you are irreplaceable or guarantee that your contributions are as valued as they should be. However, I believe that my broad experience in so many different areas is now my biggest strength in the Operations role. As an example, in my current position as VP of Operations, I have the opportunity to work in the following areas:

• Business Development
• Partner Management
• Product Development
• Project Management
• Accounting and Finance
• Sales Engineering
• Implementation

In addition to sharing my thoughts on the Operations role, I will also have posts by some guest writers, links to other relevant articles, and even some posts on other topics of interest to me. Please feel free to introduce yourself and join the conversation. I look forward to hearing from you.