I have been working for a few days looking back at my 2009 company results and looking forward to my 2010 goals. Have you set new goals – or perhaps dusted off your old ones?

The results of this time of reflection have been somewhat bittersweet.

• The companies (AskDrCallahan) revenue and profit was up – but not anything to be that excited about. Of course some business people are telling me I need to settle and be glad I am still in business. I am. I am blessed – but I do not settle.
• My time in 2009 (hey that rhymes) was spent poorly. A lot of time in busy work and a lack of aggressive action. I was just too  timid to burst through some doors to make things happen.
• I was coasting – not really goal driven. In part, my goal setting process was so complex I spent more time setting and changing goals than I did making them happen. Also I was often overwhelmed not knowing what to do next.
• Many of my goals were not mine – I did not own them.

All this has led to some new goals and perhaps more importantly some new methods of self management. First the new methods….

• Set the goals that are measurable and specific. You know, goal that you know when they are done and have a deadline. I teach this stuff – but often fail to follow my own advice.
• Write down WHY I wanted this goal. This one thing made several of my goals change. I was amazed when I had to answer the why question – on some I did not have an answer.
• Make things easier. I tend to over-complicate things and then get frozen in complexity. (My wife laughs in the background) One example is our household budget – which I would pull numbers from Quicken and put into excel for further analysis. No more – use Quicken’s budget now and go with it.
• Be bold in 2010. I am tired of being timid waiting for the right time to do things. I need to get off my butt and do them. (Of course now I have a written record of what I said – so this should help;)
• Delegate. I am TERRIBLE about this. I hesitate to do it and when I do often struggle to get the results I wanted. Fortunately I have been blessed to be surrounded by very capable people who seem to know how to get it done even with a poorly laid out vision. This is all my own problem  – and I intend to fix it. Anyone know of good workshops, books, or other material that could help?

Now here are some of the goals I have for 2010. (I will spare you the whole list)

• Attend a networking event each week. I tend to hate going out in public and doing these things unless I am the speaker. If I am speaking I feel like I either add value or not – otherwise I feel like networking events are an odd mix of people selling. But in reality, every time I go to a networking I get real results. New business deals, new people I meet with interesting stories, and new people I can help.
• Take a course on learning and remembering peoples names by Feb 15, 2010. I know a lot of us struggle with this – but I see some people who seem to remember peoples names – so I know I can get better. This is not a gimmick to get business – I want to focus on people as part of my core beliefs. And knowing and using peoples names is a great way to show people I value and respect them. I also am terrible about not using peoples names when I do know them – I plan to do better.
• Do one talk per month on Escaping Cubicle Insanity. This is an area where Boldness comes in. I love to give talks – kinda fun for me. But I so often think that nobody wants to hear what I have to say. So I wait until asked to speak. It was pointed out to me just the other day that the “cubicle insanity” is something of value to people and I am doing a dis-service to others by not putting it out there. So time to be bold and speak. (And to be bold – if you have a place you would like to hear about Escaping Cubicle Insanity – let me know and we will make it happen if at all possible.)
• Develop a social media connection pool of 10,000 Twitter, 1000 LinkedIn, and 5000 Facebook by October 31, 2010. I must admit, I really struggled with the WHY on this one. I am pretty new to social media – and I am not sure why these numbers except from input from others who know. But this is somewhat a leap of faith – not knowing where it will take me.  But you can help – and connect to me any or all of the ways above.
• Increase the company pretax revenue 2.7 times by Dec 31, 2010. No, this is not how it is really worded, but to avoid putting real numbers on the page this should suffice. The company for me is really a series of companies that do different things. Two issues you might note – I am talking revenue instead of profit. The reason I am NOT measuring profit on this goal is ease of measurement internally AND I know our expense structure. A doubling of revenue means more than a doubling of profit – so I am happy with that. A second note comes from the comment I have gotten from some business leaders who say in the next few years businesses had best brace for survival instead of growth. With congress out of control, many businesses are afraid and just want to make it through. While I certainly see their concern, I refuse to live on fear, instead I plan to be able to adjust to what is going on and profit. A group of fools may be making the rules, but we do not have to be foolish in how we adapt to them.
• Run 3 miles (at one time;) by July 2010. I used to run a lot, and have gotten out of it. I really was not that interested in starting into running again, but I keep finding myself surrounded by runners like Suman and Jill, so I am motivated. I was going to do the marathon thing as a goal, but that is just not me. 

I must admit putting these goals out there seems a little open to me – I tend to be very private and reserved. Of course this is not everything, I will keep some specifics to myself, but this is a lot for me to be public about.

Now what about you? Do you have goals? Want to share any? Better yet, how can I help you meet any of your goals?

Escape from Cubicle Nation

Guy Kawasaki (Foreword). Portfolio Hardcover 2009, Hardcover, 352 pages, $5.68

Her is more detail on one of the books from my Reading List for the Entrepreneur of Tomorrow.

Pamela’s book is a must read for those looking to escape from cubicle insanity and go into business for themselves as entrepreneurs. I put this book high in the motivation category – books that tell the truth and yet leave you pumped up about making something happen – such as The Art of The Start and Crush It.

Pamela has a unique story to tell in her book. She first operated as a consultant trying to get corporate executives to work with their employees to help improve the work environment – and thus improve productivity. After years of frustration – she realized theses corporate executives just did not care – so she took to working directly with the employees themselves by helping them to ESCAPE the often meaningless work. I share Pamela’s frustration with corporate officers. When I started with the university to run the Information Engineering and Management Program, I started by recruiting executives to send their best and their brightest to grow them into the next level of leaders. In a nutshell, the corporate world (as a whole) did not care about helping their employees get better prepared so we (at UAB) started marketing directly to the employee who wanted to make changes in their career. So when Pamela wrote her “Open Letter to CXOs Across the Corporate World” I had to whole heartily agree.

In the book, Pamela starts by address the emotional issues people feel when they are looking for an alternative to cubicle insanity. Many of the emotional issues Pamela discusses – and skillfully helps you address – I have seen personally since my activity in this area started in 2000. She does a wonderful job of walking you through the emotions (mostly fear) brought on by

• fear of living in a van down by the river,
• “Lizard” fears (have to read it to get this),
• fear of giving up your important sounding title, that only you know is meaningless,
• fear of failing,
• belief the company will change for the better if you just wait, and
• fear that you might be just as miserable when you get out of the company as you were in the company.

Pamela deals with these fears – which is unique. These issues are ALWAYS present. I have read a LOT on this topic – and she is one of the few that deals with the tough emotions that strangle people into inaction. The exercises she has will operate on you like a therapist – only a lot cheaper.

Once she deals with the fears, she walks you through how to get started NOW. She does not try to pull someone from a cubicle to a venture capital financed business with 100+ employees  -  she deals with starting from nothing – usually from the home. But mainly she deals with the reality of entrepreneurship. She walks you through the process – pulling from the best resources and authors on the market – of how to get started. Here are some of the things she covers.

• finding a business idea that works for you
• developing a good business model
• recruiting your tribe
• dealing with your current financial and living situation (making changes if needed)
• planning
• testing ideas on a small scale before going forward
• dealing with money – including benefits

Lastly she steps you through making the leap for real – how do you know when your business has grown to the point that it is time to leave the day job. She even deals with the often missed issue of handling family and friends  – who often bring the pressure on heavier than you know.

For those of you looking to go it alone (not alone really – but outside of the great corporate job) I highly recommend her book! Read it actively answering her questions as you go and you will end the book a different person than when you started it.

For those of you who are thinking you need to remain the company man or woman – even though you are not thrilled when Monday rolls around – I HIGHLY recommend her book. You really need it!