Nothing can beat this last weekend.  Perfect weather, 36 holes of golf and five hours of farm pond fishing.  I'm burnt to a crisp and loving it.  Oh... and someone paid money for a picture of me.

Once I decided to go back inside my house I finally decided to check my feedreader Sunday night.  I came across this link.

Yep... if you scroll down; you'll notice someone bought one of my old minor league baseball cards in February.  Of course, it was in a group set and the seller somewhat describes us like we were an integral part of the Phillies program.  But $9?  If you do the math; thats more than a common in a Beckett Magazine!

The first thing I thought was... "Cool! Someone paid for my autograph on a card."  My immediate second thought was... "Why would anyone want to pay money for those cards?"

How can I relate this to networking, collaboration and biz development?  I've got a good one, but I want to ask the readers of my blog (and their friends if they wish) to come up with a few.  Whoever comes up with the best one gets an all expenses paid fishing trip to my pond. (provided I don't have to pay for someone's gas/airfare/etc to get to my house) And if nobody comments; I guess I'll go fishing by myself.

I'll end the contest and announce the winner on Friday May 18th.  What are the rules?  There is only one rule: There Are No Rules

I'm just going to come right out and say it... I don't write goals down on paper and I don't think that many people should.

The goals I'm speaking of revolve around setting your sights on certain quotas that are fixed within parameters.  Since I'm a recovering insurance agent, I'll reference the insurance industry.  For example, if I write down that I HAVE to meet with 30 potential auto insurance clients per week... I may be so focused on bringing in quantity that I sacrifice quality.  And oh by the way, how many life insurance leads did I walk by in the process?  And oh yea... I just spent a lot of time in this process with no new client creation.  And what if you had called your current clients and asked if things were going good?

In an odd sort of way, it's like titling a blog post before you type the content.  Instead of letting yourself write, you are trying to stay within the title of your post and you may restrict yourself from an amazing piece of content.  (a shout to my blog coach Mike Sansone for that tip)

If you are so focused on achieving certain goals within a parameter, you may miss the opportunities that lie on the edges of the written goal.  The world we operate in is only getting more competitive, so  it may help to think around the goal rather than through the goal.  Think 'outside of the parameters' and you'll notice the pathway to success is very rarely a straight line process. 

Awhile ago, I wrote a post referencing the need to define your industry in order to produce results.  Click here for the post

Today, I was reading the Networking section of the Des Moines Register.  They interviewed a manager of one of the Amici locations in Des Moines.  Click here for that article

One of the questions, was 'One thing to change about the Des Moines area.'  You'll see from her response that she says, and I hope it doesn't get overlooked, "Encourage more activity on Sundays in downtown Des Moines..."

After I read that I thought... interesting.  What if the downtown improvement folks were to focus on days of the week rather than the entire picture?  By scaling down the focus to individual days based on each days historical characteristic, theoretically you could develop an interesting focus for the downtown area.  Once developed and/or branded, people would know how to turn downtown Des Moines into a routine.

Recently, I was at Scheels department store looking over plaque mounts for "the turkey."  I was minding my own business and trying to figure out what the difference was in the three choices of mounts.  All of the sudden (much like someone getting beamed down from the Star Ship Enterprise) this guy appeared to my left...

He instantly struck up a conversation and started talking turkey.  If you know me; you'd know it's hard for me to keep my mouth shut so, of course, I joined the conversation.  Now, have you ever had a solid conversation and then suddenly the person starts to ask too many questions?  And then you squint your eyes and think to yourself why the heck did they just ask that?

If not, then get prepared because this is the second time in three weeks I've encountered QuikStar.  Don't get me wrong.  I have no problem with their business.  My problem lies with people pretending like they care about what I say only to get the line "You seem like an intelligent person.  Have you ever considered supplementing your income?"

First of all,  I hadn't shaved in three days... I had on hunting clothes... and I was laughing at a turkey hunting video.  Nothing about that says I'm intelligent.

If you're going to recruit or hire someone, I believe you should be genuine from the get-go.  Sooner or later the person will find out what lies beneath and it should echo what is on your surface.  And if you truly care about the conversation at hand and don't view people as dollar signs... I'll bet money you'll benefit in the long run, both personally and monetarily.

If you happened to catch my last two posts; you would have seen what happens when you get too excited and try to force the situation in a turkey hunt or a sales pitch.  Well, here is what happened this last weekend...

Saturday the 21st was a perfect morning for a turkey hunt.  Personally, I was dead tired and barely had enough caffeine in me by 4 AM to see straight, so it made the beautiful conditions unnoticeable.  I did manage to make it to my dad's house by 5 AM and met my brother in the driveway.  The plan for the hunt was to put two guys next to each other and the other at the entrance of a gate.  We made it into the field by about 5:30 AM and I decided to go off on my own and find a good spot by the gate.  After a brief nap next to a tree; I heard several gobbles all around me.  I was excited, but not too ancy.  I knew at least one of us would get a bird. 

I never wear a watch when I hunt, so it was roughly 7 AM when I heard a loud gobble from directly in front of me.  Through the trees I saw a monster Tom.  Well, I didn't get too excited because I had conveniently sat myself in a spot where I had one narrow shooting lane. (not smart but I was really tired remember) Needless to say, I sat there motionless watching this thing strut.  It was incredible, but before I knew; it two more Toms came strutting in from my left.  They were much smaller, but they gave me an option...

Now, if you've heard me in a business development situation before; you've heard me say "Make sure you can hit a single before you go for the homerun."  And that's exactly what I did.  I took the shot at a smaller Tom and got him.  (It was 19 lbs and had a 9 inch beard if that tells you how big the other one was)

Here's my rationale for hitting a single.  I could have waited to see if the giant Tom walked into my shooting lane and I could've passed on the smaller birds.  I didn't pass because I hadn't shot a turkey before and I wanted to get the first one out of the way.  Had I waited for the big one, he may have gone the other way and I could've missed an opportunity for all three.  Instead, I've got a pretty cool trophy to put on the wall.

Plus, I've got my 4th season tag and now I'm going for the homerun!

In part 1 you heard how I got antsy, impatient and subsequently ruined a hunt.  You also heard that I laughed it off, refocused and ultimately got prepared for the next day.  (Warning: this is probably the longest post I've ever written)

Contrary to what many people believe; I didn't start my business career with TCM.  I started with Country Insurance and Financial Services up in Plymouth, MN.  I love the company and still have all my insurance products with them.  But let me tell you how I first tried to sell...

I had finally passed my Life/Health & Property Casualty Licensing Exams and I was ready to hit the insurance world running and "be the agent that is always there for you."  There was one problem... I had no clue what I was talking about.  So, I started cold calling and I'd literally say, "I'm Adam Steen and I'm a new insurance agent in your area.  I'm going to be quite honest... I don't really know what we offer but I'd like to just introduce myself to you anyway."  Surprisingly, that worked like a charm.  People would laugh and either say I'm good with where I'm at or they'd say yea let's meet.  So, that's how I started meeting people in Minneapolis.  Well... one fact about many salary and commissioned based sales jobs is that there are benchmark criteria.  One fact about Plymouth, MN is that its very expensive to live up there.  So based upon these facts... I had to figure out how to sell life insurance and build a pipeline of potential clients for future business.

My initial theory (and still is my theory) was this:  If I can demonstrate the value of myself and our P & C coverage then let's get that signed up and discuss life insurance... but I'm not going to force it on you.  More than half the time they didn't know their budget and weren't even sure if they could afford the extra expense.  I'm a firm believer in life insurance but it does people no good if you can't afford the premium.  This worked great and it started to build a pipeline of future business based on trust and relationship development.  Well, time constraints and my inability to force a sale ultimately caused my insurance demise.  Sure, I tried in desperate times to force a life insurance sale but what I found was that I lost the P & C then too.  Frustrating... but a good lesson.

Much like the turkey incident, I see people anticipating a sale and they get antsy, impatient and act too quickly.  The result is usually not good... you'll miss your shot at the sale and the person will fly away.  What's important is that you learn from your mistakes, shake it off (make fun of yourself) and get back out there to try again.  In my opinion, good business pipelines are built through but not limited too: patience, trust and a good relationship.

I'll be turkey hunting this weekend in Indianola.  Now, if you've been turkey hunting, you'd know that you cannot move a muscle or make a noise when one is anywhere near you.  My first turkey hunt taught me that...

Two years ago, I finally got to go turkey hunting with my brother.  This time of year I was always out of state playing baseball, so needless to say I was excited.  Well, we'd hunted in the morning and only saw some turkeys from a distance and failed to call them in.  It was aggravating because we sat there for hours and couldn't even talk.  We went into town for a quick lunch and hit the same field in the evening.  I'm not exaggerating when I say that after about 15 minutes of sitting we saw a monster Tom walking down a fence row towards us.  It was worthy of Field & Stream.  Instantly I got ancy.  My brother didn't though because this Tom was about 300 yards  away and it was following four hens.  The Tom would stop and the hens would run in front of him for about 5 yards to "check things out" only then would the Tom continue forward.  This went on for about 2 hours and truly tested my patience.  Not only was my patience running thin, but my body was giving out too.  For the entire two hours I hadn't moved a muscle, thus causing my legs to fall asleep.  And wouldn't luck have it... I'd conveniently sat in front of a giant thorn bush.  Well, to make a long story short the birds got close, but not close enough.  I couldn't take it anymore and decided I was going to try and shoot the Tom from about 60 yards away.  In my decision making process, I had flinched my knee and scared the hens.  They ran and spooked the Tom.  I jumped up... shot my gun and because I had no feeling in my legs, the kickback launched me into the thorn bush behind me... I got up and out of the thorns just in time to take one more pot shot at the bird, only to miss and be launched right back into the thorn bush. haha... my brother was MAD.  He threw his hat and goes "What are you doing?!  That thing was 60 yards away!"  He instantly started laughing when he looked behind him and saw me on the ground and struggling to get untangled from all the thorns caught in my camo.  Once I got out, we laughed all the way to Wal-Mart to get more shells for the next mornings hunt.

Part 2 will relate this story to my entrance into the business world.

Tom, Hannah and I had an opportunity to speak in from of Timothy Johnson's Creative in Business Class on Monday night.

First of all, thanks for thinking of us Timothy and also thank you to the class for your attention and great questions.

This was the first presentation we've done as a group and the first time Hannah has given a speech since high school.  The theme of the presentation revolved around (in so many words) creativity, execution and implementation, but making sure to execute for the right reasons.  For me, I believe that if you aren't able to think creatively and execute on ideas; you stand to be at risk of your competition finding new ways to grow first. I also believe creativity is very important as long as you stay within the realm of what grows you and your business.  If your ideas take you away from your core; you stand to lose site of what makes your business grow.   

Hopefully we helped plant some new ideas and supported things that have already been learned.

Tonight I get a chance to pretend I'm somebody I'm not.  Kenny Chesney is in town... I've got tickets... and that means I'm putting on my cowboy gear.  Those that know me and see me there will laugh.  Those that don't know me will think nothing of it. (or probably still laugh)

This has made me think of a post I wrote called Chameleon Branding.  Then it made me wonder; when is it okay to look fake?  Well, much like the other post... I truly believe that no matter what is on the outside, people will relate to what is on the inside.  I'll be "cowboyed up" but my personal brand will remain the same.

I believe that no matter how a business represents itself on the outside; the thing that matters most is how you operate on the inside.

My first real job in high school was at the Indianola Cemetery.  I got paid something like $5 an hour no matter how hard I worked.  It was fun, a little creepy, but rewarding nonetheless.  After all, at 13 I could buy a lot of baseball cards after a solid 7 hour work day.

Getting paid a base hourly rate was great, but then I discovered cold call selling for coupon books... commissioned based sales... and getting paid for how many sales you make per hour... therein determining your hourly rate for the next day.  That's right!  Before my pizza delivery job I was a telemarketer.

Well, I got to thinking... How can I make as many sales as possible while at the same time work fewer and fewer hours.  I tried the 'script' method and basically sounded like this "Hi.  Is the man or woman of the house available?"  If I didn't get hung up on right away; I went into "Have you ever wanted to see more dollars in your pocketbook?"  Now, at this point I'm already reaching for the rebuttal sheet, but usually got cussed out before I could find it in the mess on my desk.  Then one day I realized that the people on the other end of the phone are human.  I would ask them questions and find out about the weather, their kids, or what their passions are.  Soon I found that we'd be talking for 30 minutes and I hadn't even talked about my awesome coupon books.  When we did get around to it they'd either buy or tell me they wanted to wait for their spouse.  I didn't try a standard rebuttal when they wanted to talk to their spouse... but I did give them the phone number of where I worked!  And honestly, people would call back into the call center and ask for me.  Before I knew it I could skip work and make 5 sales in 0 hours.  It was great because now all the sudden I'd work at a rate of $35/hour without breaking a sweat.

The reason I'm telling my telemarketing story is that I have been solicited several times and now have some friends going through the cold-calling phase of their careers.  The ones that are most effective aren't reading from a script.  They know their product and can describe it well, but more importantly, they talk to me like a person.  You'll get shot down, but this will help you once you get into the face to face selling situations.

I've had some great conversations over the last 2 1/2 years.  Some were business, some were personal and some have been very confusing.  Lately, I've been having a lot of conversations revolving around the great things happening in this area.  I'm just amazed at how many people are getting connected and truly challenging themselves to create success for others.  People are taking it amongst themselves to make sure others are successful.

I don't believe in luck or fate.  I believe that the things you do to achieve a certain goal will put you in the right place at the right time.  Most is faith-based... some is good old fashioned hard work.

What is your goal?  And what can The State of Iowa do to help you get there?

I want to expand on a comment I posted on Rush Nigut's blog.

A question has been eating at me ever since my presentation at Drake University.  In my presentation, I said that, in my opinion its more difficult to grow a business in the Midwest vs the East or West Coast.  The question (which was a good one by the way) was... "There are all these people telling us to be entrepreneurs and stay in the State of Iowa... Why should we if its easier to start a business somewhere else?"

My response (not verbatim)... "I'm someone that left Iowa and came back after 7 years.  I came back because I had a great business opportunity with my dad.  I believe that there is so much business opportunity in our marketplace that it is ripe for young and old to grab onto it and make something great happen."

I don't know if that was a good answer or not.  But I do know that its true.  We are living in an area that is ripe with opportunity.

In Rush's blog, he talks about Doug Mitchell pointing out the Forbes article on the business climate in Des Moines.  To me, that is validation that others see this opportunity from outside of Iowa.  I would love to see articles dedicated to all the people I've met over the last two years that have either, moved back or moved their entire family here based on the opportunity they saw.

It's a different spin, but one that I believe will change the "brain drain" into "opportunity gain."

I had an interesting day at the Capitol here in Des Moines Thursday.  I watched Governor Culver sign the Generation Iowa Commission Bill.  It was the first time I'd been back to the Capitol since a tour in roughly 6th grade.  At risk of getting into a heated political debate because I certainly don't follow politics as much as I probably should... I left the building thinking this...  I'm happy that progress appears to be happening. 

As for me, I'm going to continue my pursuit of providing resources for business owners and entrepreneurs in hopes of creating success for Iowa based businesses.  And I'm thrilled to see all the opportunity that continues to surface within private companies here in the Midwest.

I caught wind of this story from my feedreader.  I thought it was very interesting and shows some of the values that the Midwest can bring.  It's my opinion that this can also work in Iowa.  We've got very talented people and have many great things to offer.  Thanks for setting a great standard and keep up the good work North Dakota!

http://burghdiaspora.blogspot.com/2007/04/network-north-dakota-redux.html

I always enjoy business when you don't really even talk business. 

I went to a Des Moines Bucs game this weekend with Marty Baddeloo of Solutions Kept Simple.  The last time I'd been to a Bucs game was when I was 8 years old (I think it was a Bucs game anyway).  Either way, I enjoyed watching and can see why the Bucs have been around for so long.  They do a great job of catering to their fans and do things that keep the game interesting.  They even gave three people a chance to shoot a puck through a cardboard cut-out and win a bike from Radical Cycle.  Well, it just so happens, the third guy put it right down the middle and drove home on a very expensive bike.  They seem to have great tradition and allow their audience to be the center of the show.

Thanks for the opportunity, Marty.  I'm looking forward to hitting the links soon!