I have three kids. I try to spend as much time with them as much as I can. Often than not, you spend it to them together, thinking you are saving time.

Lately, my wife and I has found out that there is value spending time with them together, and there is also value in spending time with them individually. So ocassionally, my wife would take the eldest to dinner just with him, or I take the second eldest only to a beach and vice versa. It is this one on one time where you devote full attention to them, and get to know them really well.

I am trying to do that in business as well. If you are managing a group of 6, there is value in holding regular meetings with all six. But try to spend also time to talk to them individually. These one on one sessions can unearth and get you to understand and build the relationship like no one to many meetings can ever do.

When I started to work with computers, it didn’t have any disk drives at all. Then came the 360k floppy, and then 5 megabyte hard drives. Now I have 80 gigabytes. That’s 16,000 times more! Yet, I started to keep using it in somewhat lavish way, and now I have to start deleting since I have less than 15 gigabytes left. Worrying already with still 15 gigabytes? Yes, after you decide to be wasteful, and start to spend a lot, a big amount left can start to sound like a pitiful amount of balance.

Ditto with my email. I have company email, and also got outside providers. For years, I used hotmail which gave me 2 megabytes Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a site that I just found that can give you a good glimpse of what is your internet speed in downloading and uploading.

Seth Godin, well known author, hit it right on the head that during meetings, it is important that you give feedback. But it is important that you know how to do this. He gives two very good hints on doing it properly.

a.) Say something nice first. It is important before you give feedback that you reiterate your common goals or say something good that makes everybody feel that you are in it together, and your feedback is not just an ego trip.

b.) Nobody cares about what you think or feel. They would prefer really not your opinion, but your analysis. If it makes you feel bad, then tell why others would feel bad similarly.

Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends is one of the best resource sites for small business ( in fact, it won a BusinessWeek award for it).

In her recent posts, she talked about managing a small business like a military unit. I have my thoughts on that. The nice and not so nice thing about our situation is that we now have an information explosion. Everywhere you go, there are almost limitless resources you can Read the rest of this entry »

“I beat my dad”!, I think nothing makes a kid prouder than to announce that.

We, the parent are the role models of our kids. Just like being the boss, we try to portray the epitome of capability and … perfection. We want to show them that we are competent, and knows a lot of things. But a perfect parent, just like a perfect boss , can be unbearable.

The kids know I am good in business, and in readings. But they are better than me in golf, and in many other pursuits like video games. In order to gain their respect, I must do the following things:

a.) Interact and listen to them frequently.
b.) Show them that you have their interests at heart, and you actually have common goals.
c.) Be willing to admit that they may be better than you in some areas, and in that areas, you are willing to let them show you how to do it if they can present a good case, and willing to give it their all.

I am now trying to do same in managing the business.