1.)  Although many of us want to start our own, unique, never before thought of business when we’re young, sometimes it’s easier to stay with an existing trail.  Many people have been successful financially and professionally by going the same route that others have.  I had many options to trail blaze this weekend, but the US Forest Service and the many volunteers in Colorado have done an excellent job maintaining and keeping great trails.  The wheel has already been created, find someone doing a great job at something and living the life you want, and ask them how they got started – I think you’ll be surprised by the help you might get.

2.)  Have a solid respect for nature.  In the picture above I’ve come down Mt. Democrat (14,148′) and am on top of Mt. Cameron (14,238′)on my way to Mt. Lincoln (14,286′) – see http://www.14ers.com/photos/photos_14ers1.php for more stats.  At the summit the wind was blowing consistently at 80-90 MPH.  I have never been in wind as crazy as this, nor been as freaked out.  The gentleman taking the picture was there with two other friends.  I took their picture after they took mine.  Afterward they left the way they came, and I pushed on to the next peak.  Their iPhone almost flew right out of my hand it was so windy.  In business you need to have a solid respect for how things work.  If you’re not prepared to pay your taxes, or respect your relationships and the people you work for you probably won’t be in business very long.  Like nature there are mores and rules in our society that have to be respected to insure your company can grow properly.

3.)  Stay true to your goals no matter what!  About a month ago when I first started talking with my wife about this weekend, I wanted to hike five over 14,000′ peaks in 5 days.  It sounded cool and I thought it was a strong goal.  Things changed a bit and I ended up hiking 7 fourteeners in 3 days.  A bit more challenging and an exciting accomplishment that is now in the books.  I was careful not to tell too many of my friends, because I didn’t want to get slammed and lose interest.  Have you ever shared a goal with someone and had them rip the idea to shreds?  I bet in most of those cases, you did not accomplish that goal.  In business it’s the same way.  If you have lofty goals of things you want to accomplish, be very careful who you share those goals with.  There are many dream rippers out there that want to bring you down -  no fun!

4.) You have to bring the right gear:  I was wearing multiple layers of clothing, ski hat, ski gloves, a few gallons of water, food bars, small first aid kit, Blackberry and most certainly my digital camera.  In business you need to have the right gear to succeed – without it you’ll die on the mountain.  Some of the things I can think that every business person needs to get started: laptop, cell phone (one that works in your area), relationships in your chosen area of expertise, an accountant, and a lawyer.  Without these you should stay at the trailhead!

5.) Do your research!  Thankfully Colorado has an incredible website which is current, and outlines all routes on all 53 peaks in the state.  It provides all of the information you need to hike these peaks.  See above for URL under #2.  I spent about 2 weeks determining which routes I would take and the order that I would hike.  In business you want to make sure you do tons of research before diving into a field – it’s almost preferable to work in that industry for at least two years before starting off on your own.  Today I’ll spend about 2-3 hours researching to be prepared for an appointment I have tomorrow.  If you’re prepared in life, doors will open!

* Change out all of the batteries on home fire/smoke alarms

* Replace furnace air filter and have at least one back up on hand

* Lube & oil the garage door so that it’s not so noisy and continues to work for us for years to come

* Evaluate family portfolio and make sure to rebalance funds/stocks if necessary

PearlofAfrica suggests that taking dancing lessons, and going a minimum of 21 days without one complaint should be part of everyones personal list for the new year.  I’ve taken dance lessons, but haven’t done the other. 

Here’s a few off my business tune-up list:

* Organize files and begin pulling all details together for 2009 taxes

* Evaluate all expense aspects of our business to ensure things are in line for 2010.  This includes Wireless service, computer hardware and software needs, insurance, payroll, etc…

* Goals for 2010, What will we target monthly as targets?  What strategies will we take on to accomplish our goals?  

These are just a few things that I’ve been thinking hard about over the last 2-3 weeks.  Getting things tuned-up for the coming year is critical for most business owners.  When’s the last time you had a “carrier agnostic” telecom professional provide you a free tune up on your voice and data service? 

There are many groups out there today that charge for a telecom tune-up, but I’ve found that it’s not necessary to pay additional for this service.  If you can find an individual or an agency that is “carrier agnostic” they can look at your existing set up for local, long distance, wireless, Internet, WAN and all other billable telecom expenses in an un-biased way to provide you solutions for reducing your total cost.  Why hire a consultant to run some “fancy smancy” software program then pay them 50% of your savings for six months when you can work with an agency that’s just as qualified to look at your existing billings and make recommendations to you for free.  If you work with a representative from just one of the carriers your only getting solutions from a single carrier – only one piece of the pie.  Most of the “carrier agnostic” agencies don’t charge for their advice, they get paid by the carriers they represent when they place new orders for services. 

If you had your druthers, would you rather have a part-time individual at H&R Block run your tax numbers through a computer, or have a Certified Public Accountant at Wilson Downing Group LLC go through your return line by line?  Times are still tough for many business owners - if you can get better service and a greater return by working with a “carrier agnostic” agency, you should get your tune up today!

Channel Conflict is a crazy thing for many of us in the telecom business.  As an agent (part of the Indirect sales channel) in our industry it’s particularly difficult when you’ve invested tons of time supporting a customer on a solution only to find out that they have also been working with an account manager (part of the Direct sale channel and an employee of the carrier) presenting the same product solution.  Thankfully I’ve only been in this position about 5 times in my 15 year career.  When I worked direct for Qwest in my various sales roles I battled with my management to get the agent(s) out of the account – we ended up taking full responsibility for all aspects of the sale and regretfully, all billing problems the customer was experiencing.  I still remember my manager telling me, “Those agents will mess everything up”.  Now as an agent we make sales to our customers with little regard to who the direct sales rep is that may or may not be tagged to our customer(s).  It’s our customer by golly, why should I share things with another sales person!  This is channel conflict in the carrier world as it relates to the direct and indirect sales force.

Qwest implemented a policy called CIE or Channel Integration around 2003 which was really smart – they allowed both sales channels (direct and indirect, employee and agent) to work together and insure that the customer’s interest came ahead of all others.  This has worked like a gem for a few years.  It’s allowed direct Qwest sales professionals to partner with seasoned agents to support their customers together creating a very workable and successful sales and service model.  Regretfully very few of the other carriers have implemented this as a strategy so the conflict goes on in many regions of the country.   Last year Qwest reversed their stance and decided to pay direct and indirect channels less commission on deals where CIE is involved.  I think this was a backward move that now encourages the agent community to move services to other providers rather than settle for a smaller piece of the pie.  My hope is that this decision is reversed and leads to more overall Qwest revenue in the future.   In the interview in Phones+ magazine we were introduced to Blake Wetzel, the new VP of sales for the Qwest Business Partner Program – my hope is that he will positively influence some of the decisions made for our channel in the coming months and years (for all parties involved).