I sometimes hear little motivational quotes or the like that make a lot of sense to me. I just read this one a few minutes ago. It was in the sports section of the NY Times - Joe Namath left a note for Mark Sanchez (the current NY Jet QB), which had this little nugget on it:

Focus on your priorities. If you chase two rabbits, both will get away.

I really liked that, and wanted to share it. Because I’m guilty of chasing like… nine rabbits sometimes.

I get asked about this all the time - people want to start a business, but they don’t know what type of business to start.

Here’s what I would do… in the next six months, make it a goal to make some money. Not start an official business, but just make some money. In other words, figure out how you can make some money doing/selling/offering something.

It doesn’t have to be a lot of money or anything profound, either - it can be setting up a table at the local flea market or doing computer repair on Saturdays. Use your talents, use your imagination; but go make a few bucks some way, some how.

Then, once you do that, try and make some more money. Maybe change directions. Maybe improve on what you did. Maybe do something different. Whatever. But go make some more.

And go where that leads you.

I like to think I’ve been successful in my life. And in looking back, I think the greatest periods of success that I have enjoyed - whether working for others or working for myself - is when I was true to myself in terms of sleep. Let me explain:

There were three jobs in my life that I really thrived at (and these were the jobs I left on good terms, too). The three jobs were retail manager/buyer (twice), and computer tech support. I loved those jobs, did excellent work, and was loved in return. Every other job I had I either got fired, or quit in a huff. And I didn’t like any of those lesser jobs either.

I’ve also owned three businesses in my life - a direct mail advertising business in the 90’s (failed), a computer consulting business in the 90’s (failed), and what I do now (success - going on a decade of success, in fact.) And not only did I fail at the first two, I really didn’t enjoy them all that much either.

Now, here’s the funny thing: I’ve noticed a direct correlation in all of my successes. It’s sleep. Or, more precisely, the ability to work late and sleep in.

No two ways around it - I’m an evening/night guy. I am at my best in the afternoon/evening. The retail jobs I had, since I was the boss, I worked the afternoon-close shift. Tech support was 4-midnight.

My first two businesses were straight “in-person” B2B, meaning I had to rise early. I failed. But my current business is at home, through the Internet - I work late and sleep in.

I noticed in my last two years of business, I changed a little - I wasn’t enjoying it quite as much. Wanna know why? Because I was making an effort to “get up earlier”. Why, I don’t know - maybe I felt it was more “business-like” to be up at 8am. No coincidence that I started having trouble sleeping two years ago.

It took me until right now (well, yesterday, really) to make this connection. Because two weeks ago, I started going to bed when I felt like it (2-3am usually) and sleeping until I naturally woke up (9-10am). In other words, I stopped fighting my body - ever since I was a kid, I was like this. I’m just naturally a Night Owl. And I can’t be successful or truly happy unless I remain true to that. I realize that now.

It’s only been two weeks, but I’m ecstatic about this - I feel one million times better. And I have zero trouble sleeping (and need no help), because I don’t give a @#$% what time I wake up.

To me, this is one of the keys to success - be true to yourself. I realize it’s not always 100% practical (moms everywhere will disagree with me, and even I sometimes have to schedule something early), but going against your nature is going to be more of a hindrance than a help.

So, how many people already felt the deflate in terms of resolutions and the like? It all sounds well and good New Year’s Day, when the slate is clean and all is possible.

Then comes Monday morning, when you are back to work, and it strangely feels just like it did before the New Year. As if nothing profound happened. No more shiny clean slate - your first phone call of the day (Mr. Idiot) blew that one. It’s like when you decide “yea, I’ll start going to the gym” and then you realize the gym is really crowded and smells funny.

Hang in there. Change really does start with one day. Be it January 1st or March 9th (by my calculation, the most boring day of the year.)

Here are a few predictions for the New Year:

We will see the slowdown of social media, as everyone realizes it’s:

A) not all that useful for business; and

B) a pain in the ass at times.

Really, I know people who got caught because they called in sick, then someone else posted to facebook about the big party that the sick person attended that very same day. And the human resources manager (who the sick person stupidly friended) sees “YEA, THAT WAS AN AWESOME PARTY. AREN’T YOU GLAD YOU LISTENED TO ME AND CALLED IN SICK??” 

Yea, that’s good… and as far as business, sure, it has its uses - basically, it’s a quasi-website/blog with a built-in RSS feed. But it’s not this be-all, end-all “join or die” thing it was touted as not too long ago. And Twitter… I still think we’re trying to figure that one out.

The economy will recover… kinda

The most common definition of recession is two consecutive quarters of a falling GDP. But if the GDP bottoms out, well, it’s not a recession anymore. In fact, if it bottoms out, a recession is technically over. That’s good… right?

Seriously, I don’t think there will ever be a recovery like we’d like to see. I’ll post more thoughts on this in the coming weeks as to why I feel this way. But let’s just say this “everybody lives the good life” society we’ve built is unsustainable. Sorry to be a bit gloomy, but it’s true.

However…

Opportunity will abound for those who can deliver the goods

I have always felt that those who can truly produce quality work will succeed (and I don’t mean showing up at a job and going through the motions - I mean people who are exceptional at what they do). And I feel that will really start to come into its own starting this year, because there’s soooo much mediocrity out there. And it’s getting exposed, because…

It’s not going to get any quieter

To me, the aughts (or 00’s or whatever we’re calling it) will be partially defined by “noise”. Goodness, the noise… cell phones, texts, texts while driving, texts while sitting in front of me at the movies, text your vote to #5542, banner ads, Nigerian millions and Viagra for the taking, call to vote for your favorite American Idol, click here to follow me, get your new ringtones here, send a JibJab card, mood=moody (duh), sign my online petition, become an affiliate, click here to comment…

You can’t hide anymore. Personally, or professionally. If you do something good, everyone knows. If you do something bad, everyone knows. And if you call in sick and go to a party instead, everyone knows (oops.) That’s a good thing for some of us, not so good for others.

For me, it’ll be good, because I predict that…

In terms of business, real messages with Substance will increasingly be listened to

Bite-sized nuggets of marketing aren’t going away. But they will reach a point where they begin to drown each other out (I think we’re getting close to that now.) This will allow for longer, calmer, more honest types of marketing to increase their effectiveness. Because they’ll be seen as more “real”.

Anyway, there are a few predictions to get you through the start of your week.