It is all all about teamwork ... We either win as a team or we loose as a team but whatever happens, it is a team thing ... All for one and one for all!

Initial and Random Minds

Running a decent business is simply so much more than selling something to someone and hoping, that in the end, the whole process is profitable in some way. The reader might think, Of course, what else ...? Well, as with free software, approximately two out of ten businesses really make profit at a scale that I think is worth keeping it alive. All the rest is just to feed someones kids ... some businesses even do not generate enough profit to ensure that. And of course, I claim management. Who else?

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
      — Peter Drucker (1909 - 2005)

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
      — John F. Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

Management is hell without working hand in hand with other folks in the company — so is working as employee without working hand in hand with management. Both breeds are nothing without each another. Suits just often look better, talk better (more) and earn more but that is it. I mostly found it more satisfying to say I finsihed A, B and C today instead of I had a 16 hours day, meet CEO X, Y and Z today but there will be no positive impact from it ... Unfortunately, many folks have not been on both situations so far in order to understand that both could be hell and heaven at once ...

Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their
solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal
with them.
      — Paul Hawken

How often have you seen management to screw up on things? How often was it that you thought If just I had been in power ... Truth is, to my experience and understanding The more corporate layers information has to travel from point A to B and back to A, the more problems are to be born.

A modern cyberbusiness needs a flat hierarchy model, maybe two levels of authority, in order to work effectively and in real-time. Anything else is unsuitable for the 21st century and beyond (no proof, I simply think so).

Leadership is important. It must be justifiable to others in the business why one has been elected for a particular position. Anybody in the business should have their say and vote on different matters. The overall process has to be democratic but efficient — once a decision has been made, the business has to stick to it. The tools to allow for democratic functioning of a business need to be simple, swift to use and easily accessible for anyone.

Minds need to be spend on the how democratic and how done since if there is no decision made on vital matters because the process got stalled, than this is mostly as worse as if the wrong decision had been made in the first place.

Also, democracy simply has its limits. In the end, for the outside world, there need be responsibilities in form of corporate divisions respectively in the end there need be particular humans that are in charge and responsible for things (whatever those things might be).

In practice, I would say at least nine out of ten businesses fail horribly in the area of how to establish a democratic but efficient framework for corporate internal matters. I will not fail here but I also know, that democracy has its limits.

Common Principles of Success

We have all seen it already — young folks, those that have just finished their formal education. They start thinking about what job they might file an application for — this is exactly the point in time where most of us realize Ohhhhh ... a month ago I thought I knew a lot and I am quite some hot shot but now ... I kinda feel little and goofy because there is so much more that no college course teaches, no university teaches and no freelance or whatever student job could have ever shown me.

For example, take the random graduate tech student, put him into a team and let him join a few business meetings — that person (male or female does not make a difference) usually feels as if he/she has just landed onto some alien planet (does not understand the speech, does not know how to express himself and how to behave amongst strangers that his career depends on, does not know about cultural behavior and how to avoid goofy traps in this regard, does not know how to dress, etc.).

Then take the one that has just finished his MBA (Master of Business Administration) — same here, that person of course thinks he is total hot shot. Takes a few weeks until he behaves awkward and pisses of some tech folks (without even noticing) — no more info for that guy ergo no important news and finally he looks like a total jackass to whenever opens his mouth.

Last but not least, the law breed — watching a graduated law youngster pretty much always is a lot of fun. One can be certain the youngster cites some phony thing (textbook style) at a totally wrong point in time e.g. client dinner where business parties just talk, they charm each other but there usually is a different kind of vibe in the room than it is in the office conference room. So, the phony text book attack at the wrong time and place is pretty much like sticking a gun into someones face that you would like to do business tomorrow in the office at 11am.

Ok, so what is my point? My point is, that whatever a persons background/expertise is, our globalised world and the meritocracy we are living in simply demands anybody who wants to have success and develop/foster a social network to have a mixed skill set — tech, business, law, psychology, cultures, social competence, style (clothing, etc.), talented in expressing one selves (gesture, articulation, etc.), etc.

The lucky ones among us which have also been diligent usually start a career well educated and with decent understanding of how to behave since their parental home taught them how to behave well but still keep a unique personality. It is then up to anyone himself to not just get better in everyday business endeavours but also to educate himself in areas not directly related to his day job e.g. anyone should have an interest to get additional rhetorical education (improve articulation, accent, pronunciation, etc.) or take some courses how to become self-confidence demeanour if not already part of his personality. It does not matter how good anyone in his particular domain is — if he fails with such rudimentary things he might even never get a chance to show his talent/skills/knowledge to an audience.

Appearance

Let me put it this way: Personality, sometimes expressed through how you look is fine but it should not be unpleasant for others in a common sense. If you are a rock star then you might have a different visual appearance as opposed to being a politician, lawyer, CEO (Chief Executive Officer) etc. There certainly is no better than ... and charging someone by his visual appearance only is of course utterly wrong but there are unspoken rules and understandings how to create a visual appearance of one selves.

If seen lawyers, doctors and executives with tattoos, beard and long hair but, when wearing a suit and shirt, no tattoo is visible, the beard has a decent cut and hair does not look filthy but fresh washed. Same goes for body piercings — no one has a problem if folks look like as if they are carrying a body integrated tool box around as long as a suit covers it i.e. body piercings in the face ... bad thing in case you want to be taken serious.

One should simply look normal when he wears a suit — it is as simple as that. Personally, I am totally open minded (actually, I have seen tattoos/piercings that I find totally beautiful) and a not a conservative person but I also know, there is a world aside from dance clubs, rock concerts and art classes. Putting a fat tattoo on my forehead would simply limit my chances in life — actually, I do not want to say more on this matter — anyone should know what I am talking about ...

Hair, Makeup etc.

Well, there is no problem for to wear long hair (even not for men) but it need be taken care of — not greasy, decent cut, etc. Makeup is a subject too — not just for women anymore. However, it should fit the situation i.e. it certainly is a bad idea to look super-phony-of-the-cat-walk when having a business meeting or simply spending a day in the office.

Looking Healthy

If you look like a zombie because you did not sleep last night but drunk your last glass of whisky while driving directly from the dance club to work then you might not look as healthy as you should in order to make for a trustworthy person others might do business with. All sorts of drugs are totally unacceptable — that is easy for me to say (I do not smoke nor drink) but it certainly is true. Drugs just bring you down.

Aside from being stupid and behaving like a 15 year old kid — using drugs, you might simply look healthy if you take care of your nutrition or if you pay someone who does for you. Adding sport to that mix just gives your appearance a boost — even more important, it makes you feel good. Feeling good makes you more productive and leads to more accomplishments that you can be proud of which instantly turns in to more self-confidence and so forth

From my experience, it pays off to look healthy and sporty so others can literally see you care about your body/health— how can someone take over responsibilities and be trusted if he cannot care about himself ... He probably cant ... Looking healthy and sporty sends a signal — he might be trustworthy and capable to function under pressure and take over responsibilities. You do the maths ...

Smell

Yes, that might sound funny but have you ever had to stand someone who either really stinks bad or simply to good. People stink when they either do not about hygiene or they do not care about it — that is simply disgusting and no one on earth should be forced to stand someone who stinks. I do not think a daily shower is to much to ask for ...

Now about smelling to good. There are humans that appear as if they had a bad not as normal people do with water but with perfume — I had moments where I thought to myself Lucky you do not smoke. If you had to light a smoke here the whole room would explode because that Lady/Sir ...

I think folks with no perfume but just decent and regular hygiene smell best — actually the do not smell at all ...

Dress for Success

Utterly important, unfortunately mostly underestimated.

Rhetorical Skills

Most people think they are good speakers/discourses — I believe that if an educated coach says that about someone. An educated coach in this regard is someone who also trains newscasters in how to articulate, pronounce, breathe, etc. Anything other than that is not considered an outstanding capability in the rhetorical domain — at least not from my point of view.

Even if someone can be considered good by expressing himself in a verbal manner ... can he also transport a message or information at the same time? Mostly not since as we know — as I noticed for my own person — one needs to concentrate on articulation, pronunciation etc. so there is little brain power left to really bring ones thoughts in line and not just make a professional statement/speech from an articulating point of view, but actually say the right things as well (those things you need/want to tell others). What usually happens is, folks get lost in certain loops or speak out just half the information and the rest remains inside their brains so what finally reaches the listeners is quite some chaotic bla blalalablbal bla.

Actually, I have seen the latter case (good speaker talks chaos) more often than bad speaker talks chaos. However, both cases are not satisfying from a professional point of view. We want to be good talkers (articulation, pronunciation, etc.) and at the same time be capable of transporting the information, that needs to be transported to other humans, in the correct manner. In my entire life, I have just meet one person that appeared to constantly score high on both parts of the matter. This person is just remarkable regarding everything she says/does — but she told me, she also was not born like this — she always knew about her talent she said, but it had to be discovered and formed over the years. She said, she taught herself plus she started taking courses when she was young.

So, the important point is, rhetorical skills can be learned — at least to a certain degree, from there on it is all about talent and gift. I am taking courses in order to educate myself in this area even that I think I always had a little talent in expressing myself but then why not trying to improve something already good. Anyone can find professional coaches with outstanding reference lists that can help improving rhetorical skills. I recommend looking out for coaches which also coach prime time newscasters — they are the best (of course they do not come cheap but then, what you get in return are outstanding verbal expression capabilities ... I did not expect such overwhelmingly positive impacts for my work as well as private life).

Social Competence/Networks

Cultural Competence

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_competence

Being good with Negotiations

Teamplayer

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_building

  

Common Considerations

My point of view on some Basics

• When doing business try to create added value by going through the whole net product circle and just outsource where it makes sense e.g. physical shipping via UPS, all the law stuff to a solicitor office, etc.
• From the beginning, put strong emphasis on recruitment — only hire the best since later on, only the best are going to hire the best again, otherwise, someone already bad might only hire someone even more bad than himself just to protect his job. Instead, only the best might hire someone better (more knowledge/experience/skills) than himself, knowing they can thrive on each another — that is the best possible solution for both sides, a company and all its employees.
• Try to have more than just one main pillar which can be more or less driven by the same business model/logic and technology.

Be realistic .... Yes, be!

You really want to be sure about what you are doing in the long-term. Only if physically and mentally fit should you go on, thinking about the next steps.

About Wealth

Do not dream of super sport cars, fancy dresses or yachts and such but set yourself a mid to long-term goal. Mine is: I would like to decide for myself, what to do, when to do and where to do it and also I would like to go to bed without crunching my head about how to pay my flat rent for next month or At the age of 40 and beyond, I would like to chose to work but not be forced to do so.

I do not need luxury and a lot of wealth since anything in my possession just takes away time which is my real endeavour — time is a very precious thing to me! I need lots of time for my obsessions, i.e. work, hack, research, travel and meet cultures and folks and simply be a free man.

About Determinedness

The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in
determination.
      — Tommy Lasorda

I am a simple man. I grew up in a middle-class environment and I am proud of it. I came from nowhere, constantly fought, managed to get over (or avoid) obstacles, stayed focused and never gave up, thus I think I am mentally much stronger than most folks are — I tend to work like a (badass) terminator, processing incoming tasks based on logical decisions rather than emotions.

This concept has proven itself numerous times so far, guarantees efficiency and thus I am making progress on many things a lot faster than the random human being might do. A new approach (adding to the terminator like single-minded behavior) that I am trying successfully since a few years now is, to use well-known algorithms to assign priorities, schedule tasks and make instant decisions on upcoming matters. Into that, there is world-class free software available to help with this.

About Time

Do not underestimate the time that is needed. Do not start out to pull up some sort of business if you are not willing/capable to work up to ~70 hours a week for a couple of years until the whole shebang gained momentum and a certain degree of self-reinforcing tendency is in place. Engaging in such undertaking might harm your private life in a non-sustainable way — be aware of this fact.

I would like to be part of a business, that allows me to use my time efficiently with a great deal of self-reliance and self-determination — anything else can, if at all, just be a temporary thing.

Start with Little and gain Momentum

I am a strong believer that (at least for me) best would be to have at least half of the knowledge and skills myself in order to run a future cyberbusiness.

I rather prefer to own a fraction of something good than all of
something considered a headache.
        — One of my fathers business contacts a few years ago

There will always be money involved at the beginning which I also think one should be able to pay out of his wallet — do not make yourself a slave to some banks even if a whole army of suits¹ might try to convince you otherwise. In case you lack the money just stay on track, continue with whatever job you currently do and wait until enough money piled up to start your business (however, if the time is right and your mortgage would just be 30.000 USD or so then that is fine too).

A good plan seems to be to have enough money at your disposal (fluent) that after you made your initial investments e.g. hardware for colocation in a DC (Data Center) you should still have ~40% percent or more of your initial amount of money at your disposal — for urgent unforeseen things (be sure, they will appear!).

Seven out of ten businesses that fail, fail within their first two years for four simple reasons:

• Bad financing e.g. not enough ownership equity.
• Bad business plan if any at all.
• Lack of time, knowledge, skills and resources.
• Bad or no marketing at all.

The maths here is simple. Plain and simple truth is, either one is 100% sure about that the above is not true for him or he will soon find himself being a modern slave, having sleeping disorders and desires to hang himself — sounds rough but is the truth. It is just I am not a bank clerk willing to talk you into some vanilla sky of future prosperity ... make something wrong in the first to years and your life is literally over ...

However, if all is though out well and you had a lot of talks with folks outside your own profession (e.g. you are a technician so you have too talk to business folks, lawyers, financial experts etc.) since the stuff that brings all dreams down is mostly outside ones own profession ... again plain and simple if you care.

Democracy, Fairness and Transparency

Organizations without a common understanding of authority and
leadership can not survive in the long term. And those with direct
democratic forms of participation do not tend to scale well and are
noted for their difficulty managing complexity and decision-making,
leading to failure.
      — http://times.debian.net/1232-Steve-McIntyre-elected-DPL-2008

Voting

Radical Transparency

Human Resources

Recruitment

Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it
for love of it.
      — Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

• From the beginning, put strong emphasis on recruitment — only hire the best since later on, only the best are going to hire the best again, otherwise, someone already bad might only hire someone even more bad than himself just to protect his job. Instead, only the best might hire someone better (more knowledge/experience/skills) than himself, knowing they can thrive on each another — that is the best possible solution for both sides, a company and all its employees.

  

• Nimm niemals von dir selbst an das du perfekt bist oder das deine Handlungen perfekt sind — denn das sind sie nicht. Von sich selbst du behaupten man sei perfekt verchließt einem den Weg zur Selbstkritik/Fremdkritik und somit der Moeglichkeit, nach rationeller Bewertung der Situation/Handlung/eigenen Person, an den gewonnenen Erkenntnissen zu wachsen und der Perfektion ein Stueck weit naeher gekommen zu sein (auch wenn man das Wissen hat niemals den Zustand absoluter Perfektion erreichen zu koennen. Was mehr zaehlt als das Ziel ist der Weg dorthin und der unbeugsame Wille bis zum Ende zu gehen (niemals aufzugeben .. no matter what ...).

Incentives

Main Pillars

Those are some of the main pillars I am planning to establish in the mid to long-term future — please note my deep interest to establish solutions that might maximise profits by trying to get the highest possible added value on products (in chronological order):

• Entertainment Offers: (multimedia content i.e. audio (music, audio books, etc.) video)
• Real Estate Brokerage/Development: (later on, own developments from scratch to increase profitability but even more important, to build up in-house expertise).
• Recruitment respectively Job Platform: There is nothing that is more tied to success than knowledge, skills and all the good or bad things folks bring to the table. Because of that, we are going to but emphasis on recruitment pretty soon in the process i.e. at the beginning I am going to do it myself but later on, a new product is going to be born ... a job board, recruitment division which takes care of recruitment for ourselves but also creates turnover by mediating/managing human resources.
• News Site: i.e. a website offering news about particular subjects. That might then also function as a good marketing platform for own products.
• Financial Services: This is about setting up financial services e.g.
  • payment processing systems
  • stock trading systems
  • expert systems with regards to financial services (see what modern medicine does with expert systems ...)
  • automatic market observing software and thus market development projection generation (mathematicians, financial experts, computer scientists etc. to the rescue :-])
  • OFCs (Offshore Financial Centres) providing all kinds of services to globalized financial needs of companies and individuals
  • Hedge Funds

As the business grows, and additional process are necessary to implement for the business process, start financing software development for Django CMS (all FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software) of course) and contribute to free software — exactly where needed for the own business so there are more than just the own benefits of having a custom tailored software product.

• With growing turnover, we should start providing expertise and software for the business world as well. That of course includes having in-house expertise at hand i.e. tax experts, business folks, law experts, etc. All those folks might then work tied with technicians (e.g. programmers) and customers to create new products that can create turnover/revenue.
• As the former starts to gain momentum, we could start to establish a consulting division that might possible translate into something outstanding like McKinsey, Accenture, Boston Consulting, Bain, Ernst & Young, etc. already is. However, the more probable thing might be to form alliances and partnerships along the way up.

Business Plan

Project Management

Scrum

Software for Project Management

Change Management

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_Management_%28ITSM%29
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_management_%28engineering%29