Yea, I know, nobody makes resolutions anymore much less keep them. But here’s mine.

I RESOLVE TO:

Be Remarkable In All That I Do

As Seth Godin says, conversations only happen on the edges. Strive to be remarkable in everything whether it’s my relationships, business ventures, speeches or writings. Leave a legacy.

Ride To Cool Places

I want to find new favorite rides in Florida this winter, ride through Sedona and the rest of Arizona in the spring, ride into Nova Scotia this coming summer and catch the leaves changing along the Blue Ridge Parkway and Dragon’s Tail in the fall. Also meet up with and ride with some really cool bikers along the way.

Hang Out With More ‘20-30 Something’ Business People

This isn’t about ‘staying young’. It’s about hanging out with and tapping into the future of business. Peter Drucker wrote that ‘Significance precedes momentum…’ These young people are for real, making it happen and coming to a business deal near you. Be aware.

Attend More Conferences

Nothing shifts my consciousness better than attending a great conference. You can read their books, but nothing takes the place of being in the same room with a Mark Victor Hansen or Seth Godin and hear their perspectives in their voice.

Teach/Learn/Mentor More

There’s nothing better than creating a learning environment where everyone both gives and receives incredible experiences and knowledge. A dynamic where sparks fly, ideas are born and deals are made. And do most of it from the back of my bike.

Dwain – The Biker Guy

As always – This is my opinion and I look forward to yours.  So, if you disagree or simply want to pile on, please do so either here on the BLOG or email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com  I look forward to hearing from you.

I’d venture to say that most business men and women will be happy to see 2009 in their rear view mirrors. But as with any experience we need to figure out the lessons learned in order to successfully move forward.

In my case there were many…here are five of the big ones:

Opportunity Is Still Everywhere  – 2009 was a difficult year, but that’s the nature of evolution. In order for new segments of our economy to grow some older segments had to die. How soon you get beyond the loss will determine your ability to recognize the opportunity all around. Sometimes it’s as simple as just turning around.

Who You Are Is More Important Than What You Do – Jonathan Sprinkles, 2006 College Speaker of the Year, once told me that people will not buy from you until they know you. In today’s economy, your greatest differentiator in business is YOU.

Back To Basics – The days of ‘Money for Nothing’ (Dire Straits, 1985) are gone. Those of us who adhere to the basics and learn the fundamentals key to making it in the new economy will not only survive but thrive going forward.

Social Media Is Here to Stay – I know that calculating the ROI on Social Media is akin to determining the dollar value of smiling versus frowning at your customer. You can’t quite put a figure on it, but you know it’s the right thing to do. There’s no better way to establish, grow and maintain a client base or tribe.

The Importance Of The Written Word – A successful impression when meeting someone used to be determined by wearing a suit versus jeans. Now, in today’s Text/Twitter-speak world, it’s your ability to construct coherent sentences and proper paragraphs that count. If you can’t get your information across you’ll never make it.

These are my five…what are you taking into 2010? 

Dwain – The Biker Guy

As always – This is my opinion and I look forward to yours.  So, if you disagree or simply want to pile on, please do so either here on the BLOG or email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com  I look forward to hearing from you.

How cool it was to open up The Miami Herald’s Corporate Gift Guide section this week and find my book #2 on their corporate gift list. Right between Grey Goose Vodka and a hands free set for the I-Phone.

Aside from being honored to land in their Top 10, I ‘m left with one question…how’d they know that’s exactly where I can be found most Friday nights?

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

As always – these are my thoughts on the matter and I look forward to yours.  So, if you disagree or simply want to pile on, please do so either here on the BLOG or email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com  I look forward to hearing from you. www.bikersguidetobusiness.com

I just read in an article that Florida ranks #6 in entrepreneurship climate. The story touts things like top personal income tax rates, capital gains rates and unemployment taxes. Let me be the first to say that all of those things were top of mind when starting my business here…NOT!

Granted, those are nice perks, but most entrepreneurs I know judge a good business climate by opportunity, facilities, location, resources and the ability to make money.

I’ll take it a step farther by saying that the main reason I stay in Florida is because of the year round riding it offers through some of the coolest back roads in the country. And great riding gives me the space to stop and think so I can make better business decisions.

So, for those intellectuals out there looking for answers in all the wrong places, sometimes a great business climate is simply the one that we both know and feels right.

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

As always – this is my opinion and look forward to yours. So, if you disagree or simply want to pile on, please do so either here on the BLOG or email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com I look forward to hearing from you. www.bikersguidetobusiness.com

Last week I had the privilege of attending a local mastermind group of internet wizards. To say their grasp of digital media, internet marketing and search engine optimization was awe inspiring is an understatement. Each with a story to tell…each with a company to build…each with a fortune to make.

For two content packed hours they traded ideas on things like Backlinking, Hub Pages, Article and Social Marketing. From a “being left behind in business” perspective, I was totally intimidated by the intellect and confidence in the room…until the meeting was over.

After the meeting I networked with the participants, saw the hunger in their eyes and asked about their businesses. One of the more successful in the room talked about how he is constantly launching product after product – each making money for a while, but none with traction.

Another pitched his business idea that was just like another company but with a twist.  Instead of doing what they do on t-shirts, they would do on shoes, but when asked the ultimate goal of the company he had no answer. That’s because at this stage of their careers it’s only about making the money now with little thought to the longer term. Something all seasoned entrepreneurs can relate to because we’ve been there.

Of this group, the successful ones will eventually learn that if it’s only about the money you’re nothing more than a new-age gold digger panning electronic mines looking for that ever elusive killer vein. You certainly need to have the know-how and techniques down pat, but in order to play at the highest level in business you need a vision from the soul that fuels your passion beyond that of making money. Meaning that the product or service you offer IS relevant.

Until you find your true passion within a business that feeds your soul as well as your bank account, you will continue to launch sky rocket after sky rocket in an attempt to “make it”. And oh by the way, you’ll probably do it while continuing to work for someone else…the man or woman with an actual dream.

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

As always – these are my thoughts on the matter, I could be wrong.  So, if you disagree or simply want to pile on, please do so either here on the BLOG or email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com  I look forward to hearing from you. www.bikersguidetobusiness.com

Some days you just have to simply stop and get off the merry-go-round of business. Usually it’s to reward yourself for a job well done and that’s important. But I believe that it’s more important to stop when things are most difficult or going totally wrong.

This is because what you’re experiencing in that moment is simply a manifestation of a decision you made 3-6-9-18 months ago. After all, the piper must be paid and he’s now collecting. However that’s not the way we’ve been taught to react.

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”

“You’ve got to gut it out!”

“Don’t stop until you drop!”

But, what if the direction you’re going in is the wrong one and you keep going? What if you spend another six months gutting it out and eventually drop from exhaustion only to find out that it was a losing proposition all along?

A very wise man once told me that “When faced with a disappointment, you must stop and ask yourself, what was the appointment?”

That takes deep thought and soul searching…which one cannot do if in constant motion. You need to stop and ‘go quiet’ in order to remove the background noise and properly answer that question.

Take it from someone who’s faced his share of disappointments in life. Doing everything right isn’t the answer…doing the right things is.

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

As always – these are my thoughts on the matter, I could be wrong.  So, if you disagree or simply want to pile on, please do so either here on the BLOG or email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com  I look forward to hearing from you. www.bikersguidetobusiness.com

I’ve spent this week in New York working ON my business rather than working IN it. Two days were spent recording my book at the offices of Audible.Com (to be released in a couple of weeks) and one day totally shifting my world at Seth Godin’s private conference.

For those of you unfamiliar with Seth Godin, he’s one of the great thinkers in business today. His perspective and blog are a driving force changing the face of business today and spending a day with him and a small group of other entrepreneurs was incredible.

I’ll not bore you with details but the main take away from yesterday were two questions – “What makes you remarkable?” As Seth put it, conversations only take place on the edges, never the middle. The second question was – “How does your product or service match the times?”

In those two simple questions he completely flipped my business planning for next year. In my last blog I asked the question – “2010 will be a good year if?” and now my answers have changed.

That’s why I get away from my business paying big bucks to attend mind shifting conferences or simply riding my bike – to change my perspective.

What would have been the cost of NOT attending his conference? By how far would I have missed my mark? It’s probably quantifiable in terms of dollars, but the true value is the time I’ll save having better honed in on my true destination.

Now a big part of me wants to sit down and immediately draft the plan but instead I’m giving myself today (Friday) off to walk the streets of New York and allow the ideas rattling around to better meld by NOT thinking of them.

Because just like a great gumbo, ideas are always better the next day after you’ve allowed them to settle.

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

As always – These are my thoughts, I could be wrong.  So, if you disagree or simply want to pile on, please do so either here on the BLOG or email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com  I look forward to hearing from you.

Wow, it’s mid November and I’m wondering what happened to this past year. Wasn’t January 1 just yesterday? Time tends to fly as the work gets harder and on top of that a new decade is staring us in the face.

The question is, are you ready?

We all have thoughts of the future but few of us take the time to document them into a plan. That’s because we’ve been conditioned to believe that a written plan should be something akin to War and Peace. “I’m too busy to plan!”

And to a degree I’ll buy into that argument. No entrepreneur, unless looking for investment capital, needs to write a 30 page document. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take the time to compile a list of what it is we want to accomplish next year.

In all my years of consulting with various companies I’ve come to understand that “planning is nothing more than taking the time to think about all the things you know need to be done and writing them down.”

That’s why this time each year I take the time to write down the answer this question – “2010 will be a good year if…”

Answering this simple but powerful question is all it takes to begin your planning process.  You know instinctively what needs to be accomplished so take the time to write it down because it’s the first step to getting there successfully. 

In my next few blogs, I’ll share with you how to easily build a plan around your answer that ensures important things don’t fall through the cracks.

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

As always – these are my thoughts on the matter, I could be wrong.  So, if you disagree or simply want to pile on, please do so either here on the BLOG or email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com  If you’d like access to the tools I use in planning go to  www.bikersguidetobusiness.com

On December 1, Junior Achievement of Rock River Valley in Illinois will close its doors due to the economy. They touched approximately 2500 students last year alone and if you multiply any portion of that by the fifty years they were in business, you quickly see how great an impact this program had on this community.

Overall JA touches more than 9.3 million students a year…9.3 million! (Minus 2500 from now on). I’m left to wonder how many other offices are in the same trouble forcing them to close their doors and why is it that in tough economic times it’s the kids that always take it in the shorts?

When in banking, I volunteered for JA and had a blast in the classroom. It was in an inner city high school and the kids were great. All were interested in ‘making money’ and I truly felt the importance of showing them an alternative to the street life that surrounded them. 

And that’s the importance of Junior Achievement. It’s not to turn them into instant entrepreneurs or to save them, but to give them insight into our world of business. Think back to your youth and consider who and what crossed your path that peaked your interest in business. Heck, I have more mentors than can be remembered and each added something to the mix that’s become my business career and I’ll bet you have the same.

In my last blog I wrote how entrepreneurs don’t flock but we do love to talk about what we do and teach. So maybe we should flock en masse down to our local Junior Achievement office and volunteer to teach a kid about business. 

The future of your community depends on it.

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

As always – these are my thoughts on the matter, I could be wrong.  So, if you disagree or simply want to pile on, please do so either here on the BLOG or email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com  I look forward to hearing from you. www.bikersguidetobusiness.com

Everyday I get up and run my business without a second thought and on weekends I get to ride anywhere my mood takes me. Freedom is a wonderful thing and all too easily taken for granted.

My Dad fought in WWII making him part of the ‘Greatest Generation’. He was a quiet man who, at the age of 20 was handed a gun and told to go off and save the world. Then, when he came home was given a job and told to build a country. Oh sure, he had his share of complaints and struggles, we all do. But he woke up every day of his life and did his duty.

Today we’re doing the same thing with some of our best and brightest. Freedom isn’t won once and held forever, it’s protected every minute of every day. And often the cost is high.

How do we make sure it’s not an ‘us vs. them’ situation in that they wake up in some God forsaken land risking their lives daily while we wake up in the comfort and safety of our homes? What is our responsibility to these brave men and women who are carving out a large portion of their lives serving our country…serving all of us? How can we more personalize the sacrifice they are making to ensure we as a country can carry on?

I think we honor them by doing our jobs to the best of our ability each and every day…by working not only for ourselves and immediate families but them as well. By no longer playing numbers games for quick riches but instead building our businesses the right way and giving them an economy filled with jobs worthy of their sacrifice to come home to.

They’re making us proud for doing their jobs so let’s do ours. It’s our turn to make them proud.

Dwain – The BusinessBiker

As always – these are my thoughts on the matter, I could be wrong.  So, if you disagree or simply want to pile on, please do so either here on the BLOG or email me directly at Navigator@BikersGuidetoBusiness.Com  I look forward to hearing from you. www.bikersguidetobusiness.com