Vacations don’t have to be about getting away from work. Seth Godin has said “Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” I think that’s a terrible way to think about vacations and work. Sure, I get what he’s saying that you should be doing what you love so you don’t feel the need to escape. Or even set up your life so you can work, travel and live anywhere you want. Come on, we all can’t do that. We have family, friends, clients and people who need us here. 

No matter how much I love what I do, I like to step away from that and take a breath. I enjoy traveling and would love to do it more if I was somehow independently wealthy. But those vacations aren’t about escape, at least not for me. Those vacations allow me to not just re-charge but also gain new experiences that will influence my life. They also remind me why I’m doing what I’m doing and how much I love it… how much I need to get back at it and keep working. Life isn’t all about work, even if you enjoy your work, you need to shake up your routine every once in a while. Sometimes getting away from the desk is that change in perspective that you needed for your next creative breakthrough. 

So don’t feel bad if you’re thinking about planning a vacation or taking some time off. A week or two here and there isn’t going to put a huge dent in your overall goal. 

It’s April 1st and we’re a quarter of the way through the year, man time is flying. At the end of December I wrote up 30 things I wanted to do this year and figured it was a good time to look at that list and see how I’m doing. I can already cross off a couple things like, blog more, drink more wine and guest blogging. There are a few items that were more ongoing items like, run 1000 miles. I’ve almost logged 300 miles this year already so I’d say I’m on track. On the list was also to draw everyday and I’ve been doing that with my doodle a day. There is still a lot on the list but there are also still nine more months to go so I’m feeling pretty good. I feel like there are a couple that might not happen like visit India; two trips out of the country are a lot and we’ve done a lot of traveling this last month. Truthfully, you never know what could happen. 

If you made yourself a similar list at the end of 2012, it’s always good to look back and see how you’re doing and re-work the goals if they are slipping. 

You hear a lot of people who try to keep business and their personal life separate. “It’s nothing personal, it’s just business;” we all know that saying. I understand that some separation is a good thing. A lot of the time you have to put the little things behind you in order to make your business move forward. 

When you run a business that is really all about good relationships like LooseKeys, that’s something I don’t think is really an option. My business is very personal to me. 

I would prefer to work with people I like rather than the ones who might be the megastars or hotshots in our field. I would like to be able to grab lunch with someone and chat with them about their weekend or the latest movie rather than just making it all about business the whole time. 

When someone does something that negatively effects one aspect of my life, this is carried over into the other. That’s why I try to make sure I treat everyone the way I’d like to be treated. The golden rule right, treat others how you wish to be treated. I think perhaps some businesses could benefit from keeping things personal. Treat the people you do business with the way you’d like to be treated by others. Not a bad way to do business, I think.

When you’re working for yourself it’s easy to feel like most days you’re missing a routine. Especially when you’re working from home. There are somedays where I love that I have no routine and I have the freedom to do whatever I want and that I can work when and wherever. Still there are times where that freedom is overwhelming and I wish that I had some sort of routine to help me get into a groove. 

Often working from home feels the same and it’s hard to separate work and home when there is nothing to distinguish the two. Making it hard to be productive since it might never feel like you’re at work. I don’t have a set start time, I try to make sure I’m working by 10:00. Sometimes its 9:00, but is varies and then I end up working late into the night.

When you’re your own boss or when your boss isn’t at the same location with you, it’s tricky to stay motivated and productive all the time. Finding ways to be productive without external forces can be difficult. You have to learn how to set your own goals and regulate your behavior to accomplish them. No matter how many secrets or tips other people give you on how to be productive without a schedule you have to figure out what works for you. My daily and weekly routine is different every day. Sometimes I’m working at home but more and more I’ve been working off site and visiting different coffee shops and co-working spaces around the city. I don’t think leaving the house is making me more productive but it does help get the creative juices flowing. Even after a year of running my own company, I’m still trying to figure out what works. It’s a process, there is no one fix for everyone. 

Asking yourself, how can I get rich with this business is a silly question. Unless you win the lottery or rob a bank, no one get’s rich quick. The chances that one day you’ll own your own private island is pretty slim. Even those successful startups you hear getting millions for their ideas took time to get there. None of them were a million dollar business the first day they launched. Instead you should be asking, what do I need to do to build the sort of business that I’ll want to work at in two years, five years, or 10 years. Is this something that you’d be proud to tell your kids that you do? I believe that most people start a business because of an interest. Whether it’s a bike shop, a bakery, or a design firm. Be sure to start a business based on your interest or passion and not just for the money because you’ll get a lot more out of the business that way.

It’s hard to believe that its already been a year since I left Daily Planet Productions ltd. and started my own business, LooseKeys. Going from a secure job with benefits and a guaranteed paycheck each week to… well, no job security, no benefits and if we don’t get enough work, there’s no paycheck at all. Its been crazy but at the same time exciting. I have no regrets for making this change and starting this venture. This year has flown by and has been one of the most exciting times of my life. Every day has proven to be a new adventure and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. You can only be prepared so much for starting your own business. Having Maeve there with me along the way has proven to be an extra benefit, without her by my side, everything would have been twice as challenging. Over the last year I’ve had the chance to work on some amazing projects for LooseKeys with some great clients.

Its been a crazy ride these last twelve months, but we’re only getting started. I’ve built some solid relationships already and I’m looking forward to strengthening them even further. So get ready for some big things from the LooseKeys team.

Thank you all for your support in helping to make LooseKeys a success!

Lately I’ve noticed that a lot of people using social media are being relativity positive. I’m not saying everyone is, some use Twitter and Facebook as an outlet to vent. Sometimes it just feels easier to be negative and complain. But I personally see a lot more positive tweets and updates in my stream. I guess it comes back to the if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all. Do you think anyone really wants to follow or be around you if you are always miserable or taking out your problems on the world? Uh, no. I wonder if there is a way to take the positive attitude we all put forward online and move it to our everyday life?

Yesterday when I was riding my bike I hit a pot hole and got a flat tire at the same time someone drove passed me in their car and yelled something about bikers. My day was not off to a great start. I started to tweet something like “Not a fun way to start your day… hit a potholed and got a flat tire. #FML.” Instead I spun it and said “First flat on the new bike. Looks like I’ll be switching these to armadillos when I make it over to the bike shop.” Although I had to walk a few blocks, I decided to take the positive and not have that event mess up my entire day. The day turned out to be a pretty good one and it was very productive. Don’t think it would have been that way if I had complained publicly.

If you handle what life throws at you with a more optimistic and cheery outlook, positive people are going to want to be around you, all the time. Wouldn’t that be a lot more fun to be around then someone complaining all the time and being negative about their lives. If you’re being positive online take it offline and enjoy life that much more.

Don’t kid yourself, you physically can’t do it all by yourself and don’t worry it’s not a sign or weakness or failure to ask for help. For many of us, asking for help can be a difficult thing to do. Sure it may be hard to admit you need a hand, you’ve been making it work this long without that help but at some point there comes a time when you’re better off getting things off your plate and your mind. If you’re getting better at your work or your business is growing you’ll need to use your time to focus on harder, more time consuming things. It doesn’t mean you failed or couldn’t cut it, your efforts were just focused someplace better. But figuring out which tasks to give up and hand off is the hardest part and this is what I think makes a good leader or great boss.

That’s the fight I’m having with my work right now and its something that needs to happen if I’m going to grow LooseKeys. Most of the time I can be a “lone ranger” of sorts and do everything myself. It’s not because I’m afraid to ask for help but more often then not its because I want to prove that I can do it all myself. But it’s gotten to the point that I need to figure out the best way to scale up or pull back a little. More and more I’m starting to see the benefit of asking for help to get the work done. And I’m finding in most cases that the work is better when you are putting faith and trust in another person. The people I’ve chosen to work with have been doing such great work with each and every video that I’m receiving more requests with even larger projects on the horizon. Now I’ve always been a team player and love working with others but it’s a different thought process when it’s your team and it’s your job to figure out how to make it all work. At times I have it in my head that I’m the only one that knows how to do it the right way. But you can’t play a game of baseball by playing every position on the team so why am I thinking of the business as a single man game. Just sitting down and creating the work or doing the sales is the easy part but being the leader and finding the right people to make your team great is trickier then you’d think. If you just ask, you can quickly find some great people out there that are willing to help you in any way they can. You just have to ask for it. You’ll likely see me giving up more responsibilities on some projects and trusting the team I’ve been putting together to handle more so I can focus on other parts of the business that might not seem as exciting but are crucial. Success is almost never forged alone, there is always a team right there with you, you just have to know when to ask.

Everyday you should be pushing yourself to create better and better work. It’s a good sign if you happen to look back on the work you created last year or even last week and you don’t think it’s good. It shows that you’ve gotten better and your skills are improving. But why look back at all? Just to pat yourself on the back and say look at that, you’re way better now. Why waste your time looking back at all? Why not just keep pushing forward and know you’re getting better. The Minnesota hiphop collective Doomtree has a great line. “We don’t watch the reply ‘cause we too busy playin”. It’s such a prefect line, focus on what you’re doing now and when it’s done, move onto the next thing. Don’t worry about how it turned out or what people are saying about it in a year from now. Do you really care if someone in a year or two from now likes or dislikes what you created? Don’t be that high school football star remembering that one touchdown he made at the homecoming game. Live in the present and push yourself now because what you did before is just a small footnote in what you’re moving towards. Everyday look forward and push yourself to create great work and don’t waste your time worrying about what you created in the past.