Project: The Trust Fall

Friends and Family!

Everyone who has ever had a cell phone through a major carrier (isn’t that everyone, you’re probably thinking. Haven’t we all traded in our landlines for handhelds?) has heard this cellular campaign rhetoric before. You get to pick a limited amount of friends and family members to make unlimited calls and texts messages.

Of course, if that gets leaked, it is a tell-all to who’s who in your life - a few of your favorite people in life. Maybe they are just your I.C.E contacts? Of course like a Netflix queue, we have the privilege of adjusting those we call our top priority people.

However, sometimes out of those five friends and family (or however few or many we may choose) we decide to take a risk, take the plunge and pursue the vision we have. We decide to open shop.

Whether it is developing an app.

Or breaking ground for a new shopping complex.

We take the trust fall.

But because we are a family we often make a trust fail.

Hive fives do not cut it:

Now, maybe business used to be conducted with a firm handshake – and if only things were that honest and simple. However, imagine if you were in a family, would that handshake translate to a high five? Even so, don’t take for granted the love, birth to the present life-long relationship and subsequent character reference that you have with a family member or friend good enough to go off of.

You need paper trails. You need John Hancocks. You need digital files.

You need to protect both of your interests.

1) Define leadership:

Sure, there’s always someone who will give the shirt off his or her back. And, sure, on the flip side, if the plane has the potential of crashing you have to put your mask on before you can help someone else. So it is all about give and take. Still, one of you has to take the role of leadership more seriously. Otherwise, you will have apathy on some parts or alphas butting heads.

Without a clearly defined leader, you will not have a clearly defined business plan or direction.

2) Family time is family time:

Learn to set business parameters. Home. Work. Play.

Also, there will be times you have to distance yourself from each other. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

Don’t let your basketball court squabbles come into your conference room at work.

Don’t let your shredded documents from work become confetti at your kid’s birthday parties.

If your cell phone is used concurrently as your work phone, use discretion.

You do not get ahead by putting in more hours. You get ahead by putting more in your hours.

Also, when it comes to friends and family, it is always been about the quality. The quality of those whom we spend time with and the quality of time we spend with them.

So the hours you are at work with them, use them wisely. Because the hours you are not at work are the hours that made you feel you could trust them enough to have a business.

That made you feel passionate to pursue your vision. That made you excited to start a business that would make you jump out of bed.

That is the kind of family time you need to structure.

3) Mom & Pop & Sons:

A Mom & Pop store. A Father & Sons Establishment.

Either way, it is more than making a name for yourself; it is about making a legacy. You do not have to own an entity that employees thousands, you do not have to own a megaphone or have your face plastered on a billboard.

You have to see a problem, come up with a solution and start to resolve it. You have to make a difference and open the door for those behind you so they can continue to follow through.

You may have started with your family, but it is essential that you maintain your business in such a way that you protect it for your business family.

The trust fall takes at least two people.

Shake on it, hug it out, high five all the day long. Call each other up on the ol’ friends and family plan.

Just make sure you sign on some dotted line, somewhere. Make sure you are honest and up front. Make sure you protect each other. So make sure that you not only have each other’s backs, but you are protecting the backbone of the community. Both now and that of the future.

Going into business with those you love may be hard, and it is not for everyone. However, you do not have to have your trust fail you.

Are you a risk-taker? Did you take the trust fall with your family and loved ones?

Tell us your story!

-The Green Couch

Project: Speak Up or Someone Else Will Do It For You

We all have something to say: it is just that sometimes we suffer from Entrepreneurial Laryngitis. (The loss of voice that causes us to lose sight of our vision.) It can be a form of stage fright or the fear that what we think about isn’t worth sharing. And so we keep to ourselves our ideas and our strategies. Any platform in which we could exercise public speaking we avoid as if it were the iceberg and we were Titanic come back from the caverns of 1912’s North Atlantic Ocean.

But why are we so persistent in this endeavor to NOT do something?

Our reasoning could be in thinking that our story is not worth telling, but none of us have a story that is finished. Therefore, if that is our excuse none of us should take center stage. All of us should avoid the soapbox.

Our reasoning could be rooted in the fact that we have been heckled before. Remember the days gone by where we dreamed of becoming a magician, a puppeteer, a singer, a comedian? And for what? To be laughed off the stage? Perhaps it didn’t even have to occur on the stage. It could have been on the field or the court. Tryouts can be brutal, and we end up the butt of the joke. The emotional scars run deep, and the results are how we excuse ourselves from any occurrence where we could stand behind a microphone.

 Our reasoning could be hidden in fear that we will suffer from vomiting before and after. We will stumble over our words. And ultimately we will do more harm than good to what we attempt to represent. In addition, will ruin our personal reputation. And the urge to hide beneath a baggy hoodie becomes an outward visualization of how we hide emotionally and internalize everything; questioning the purpose of our projects.  

But if we don’t speak up someone else will do it for us. If we do not speak up someone will shut up the entirety of our dream and shut down the path that needs to stay open. There are millions that might depend on the vision we are trying to develop.

We could be the cure for Entrepreneurial Laryngitis. Speak up and inspire another to speak up until our voices are loud enough that we don’t need a microphone. Until those who think they are average will tune into social media to find an outlet to build their business, develop their product, travel the world and continue their philanthropic ways.

When our fear of rejection, either from the audience or ourselves, is bigger than our vision, it is often self-imposed. We choose to scratch out our voice and deny others from hearing what we have to say. Maybe it is not much. Maybe it is not “right” or not a “right now” kind of mentality. But we don’t have to remain quiet all the time.

As Singer-songwriter Mat Kearney says,

“For the ones who are forgotten. 

For the ones who are told to speak only when you are spoken to, and then they are never 

spoken to. Speak every time you stand so you do not forget yourself. Do not let one 

moment go by that doesn’t remind you that your heart beats a hundred thousand times a 

day and there  are gallons of blood making every one of you oceans…”

  

We all have a story; speak up and share yours. We’re listening, want to hear it, and share it: 

-The Green Couch

Project: What’s Your Network Tell Others About Your Net Worth?

Does what you say, all the little nuances of what you do, add up to scream money?

Are you genuine? If the very people you are interacting with caught you unaware at home or in your office cubicle, would they catch the same person?

Are you altruistic in your behavior? Do you attend events that benefit not-for-profit organizations?

Are you dependable? If you are the speaker, be ready to speak. Be on time, tune into the people and their needs.

Are you prepared and articulate? You don’t have to get your cue cards all in a row, but make sure you feel comfortable, so you’re not on the spot. And a few business cards up your sleeve? Perfect!

Are you creative? Why is networking looked at as unfavorable? Because it’s un-favorable. Volunteer to plan an event and make it diverse.

All these things add up to net worth. They say time is money. All this time you are spending with others is their time as well.

Your genuineness, your altruistic behavior, your dependability, etc., ends up being the net worth of your time. How much is your time worth? Can you put a price tag on it? Or is the integrity of your word and the networking and interactions amongst your colleagues, both old and new alike, and their respect for you as a valuable asset enough?

What does your network tell others about your net worth? How valuable is your time? And how do you value others' time?

The next time you go to a networking event, remember that if time is really money others are paying as well.

-The Green Couch

Project: Pinterest Isn’t Just For DIY Projectors

Ever see that white P and think how Pinterest is so pinteresting? And that since its inception it has strategically developed to be more than a file/photo/data sharing site for DIY projectors?

So how can you use it to market and advance your business? Here are three topical tips on how you can tackle it:

1) Post what YOU’RE doing. In other words, upload pins. You have the power to create trends and determine what constitutes as the content/files that are shared in the 30+ categories. The stuff that everyone is re-pinning - it has to come from somewhere, right?

2) Think in color. Even if you’re a text heavy company and rely heavily on numbers, at least have a strongly inviting header that you can pin to invite others to your site. Make sure you always have some graphic that will visually stimulate others when you pin to your boards. If all else fails, the caption "Pin Now, Read Later" works.

3) Think outside the boardroom. Pinterest organizes not only by categories but gives you an opportunity to organize by giving you “boards.” Here you get to pin things too. Not only can you pin your curated materials, but pin others’ material; this is a great two-fold maneuver. 1) Others can see you are pinning their content. 2) By them seeing you are pinning their stuff, they are likely to follow your tracks and hopefully follow you. This is the beginning of a literally beautiful networking hub.

Follow us on our Pinterest account and get inspired by those we find inspiring, relatable moments, our daily quotes and more!

-The Green Couch

www.pinterest.com/spillyourgutsy/

Project: Respect for The After-Hours

By this title, you probably think I am going to talk about keeping work and home separate. That is to say, keeping your work hours between 9 to 5 (or whatever structure you have set up within the realm of your work enterprise). Then barricading your home and dedicating it solely to its own eat, pray, love existence so that never the two shall meet.

However, no. Today I am talking about the importance of setting yourself apart from the norm and immersing yourself in the hub of another existence, another culture to find fuel. Finding motivation and frankly finding the time to get things done without the interruption of people who know you and those you know.

I am talking about cafés, libraries, sometimes even your own home office. I am talking about working remotely: Stepping outside the comfort of your cubicle and away from your desk to solely focus on the project before you. Whether you have a proposal you have to review, a budget you need to write, a PowerPoint presentation to perfect - it needs to be just you and your work.

2 Tips to Turning The “Remote” On!

• 9-Noon

Ever heard of highway hypnosis? It is when you are driving on one long stretch of seemingly endless road. Like the Energizer Bunny, you keep going and going and going. The danger is your eyes become dangerously accustomed to the yellow and white lines until everything is a blur; blinking does nothing to help. So you become a hazard to yourself and your surroundings because you are slightly numb to the environment, and your reactions are delayed.

Now, translate that to your office. You go and go and go until you are just working repetitively but at the end of the day a little unsure of what you may have done or clocked in - your creativity was delayed. Try working at least 9-noon out of office, Instead of being in the office from 9-5 all day. Give yourself a chance to blink, breath and come back from the highway of the rat race.

• Turn the Tech Off

Sometimes it means…yes, turn the tech off. Maybe just disconnecting from Wi-Fi, social media, email. Maybe it is time you catch up on reading or writing. But turning the tech off in this technologically progressive world seems like a non-conducive day and way to strategically accomplish your tasks, but there are more distractions with notifications than you notice until you quiet their incessant pinging.

So the next time you are feeling overwhelmed, and a project deadline is looming don’t wait until things are too late. Let your creativity loose. Get out there and turn your Remote On!

-The Green Couch

Project: The Character Count

Say what you need to say in 140 Characters or less.

For those who can disregard grammar and the fine art of English or their language, this is easy.

For those who are born in the texting era, this is easy.

For those who have little to say and to a few people, this is easy.

But for those who have a vision, those who have a big dream, those who just have BIG, how do you break it down and feed it to the masses?

How do you take your business plan and make it digestible, believable, enjoyable, attainable and credible for those who have deemed your character count worth reading?

How do you wow

How to you capture

How do you keep it

How do you inspire

How do you excite

How do you create movement

How do you say what you need to say in 140 characters or less?

And how do you make those few words have a huge impact? How do you stand out and step it up?

If everyone has the same character count, it can too easily and too soon sound cliché.

So how do you character count and make it count?

Speak from the heart, write from the mind

Stay authentic, but be smart. Study who you are and who your target is. Since you cannot reach everyone, you cannot write for everyone. Do not just post for the sake of posting. Post for interaction. There is always a chance they will be hit or miss, but empty threats – posts that are either emotionally or mentally dry – are always a miss.

Be creative, stay classy

It is like Dr. Suess said, “Today you are you. That is truer than true.” Take advantage of that. Discover your tone, find what people retweet and talk about most and throw everything out the window. Just because you think it is funny does not mean it is.

Polish your punctuation

In the effort to preserve character count try not to compromise punctuation so you can add more letters. You may get to say more that way, but what you say may not mean the same.

Hashtag, you’re it

The entire purpose of those 140 characters is to create this chain link of connecting someone or something - turning breadcrumbs into bread pudding. But too much of anything is bad. And not enough can starve the reader. So learn: which ones will best fit your brand, your message and the ultimate goal? Hash it out mentally before you tag it.

Give credit where credit is due

You have the power to dedicate 140 to whoever deserves it most. And you have the power to do it without a microphone. It is all in the @ symbol. Shift + 2 goes a long way when you are making your characters count.

Brand your Bio

Do not copy and paste just because you can and because it will attract more followers.

One of the hardest things to do is maintain your brand in 140 characters. You would think it is easier to do considering you have less to mess up. But the tendency to unintentionally copy and paste becomes prevalent, and so we end up losing sight of who we are, as we try to write what people want to hear. We have a section where we get to explain who we are. Use it wisely and use every 140 character post write-up to back it up.

So the next time you are on Twitter, make sure you do not just count your characters, make your characters count.

-The Green Couch