To me it’s amazing what she creates with sand. Sand. Small grains of sand are turned into beautiful artwork right before our eyes.

I don’t know how she got started. Maybe she was on some beach one day and started messing around. Maybe she took a sand art class. Regardless, there’s no doubt that she creates something masterful with something nearly insignificant.

This week at my new job, I was waiting on my dry erase board to be installed. I tend to have spur-of-the-moment bursts of inspiration. As such, I like to have a place to write them down and let the creativity flow. Before it arrived, I felt like I couldn’t do much of anything. “But what if I have a great idea?” I thought. “Where will I write it?”

And then I watched this video. I learned that in the hands of a true artist, the tools are secondary. It merely takes vision and will in order to manipulate the tools in order to create art, beauty, and impact.

Maybe it’s time we stop waiting for the “right” tools. Perhaps we don’t need the latest of any gadget in order to do meaningful work. Maybe what need is a passion, a will, and a commitment to creating something of beauty.

Passion and talent is what turns sand into art.

photo credit: MikeSchinkel

So much attention is paid in the business world to starting things. We value entrepreneurs as celebrities. We praise people who are innovative and think up the next big idea.

But rarely do we congratulate someone on finishing something. We hardly ever pat someone on the back when they prudently decide it’s time to move on, that the business model no longer works or that they need to break up with a client.

Maybe it’s because usually, things end badly. Most of the time, when we end any relationship (business or personal), we’re not sure quite how to do it, so things go awry, people get angry, and we hastily halt everything in order to move on quickly.

It’s like all of our professional relationships can be summed up in Berger’s post-it note to Carrie.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be transitioning out of the world of entrepreneurship, consulting and freelancing, at least on a full-time basis. I’ll be transitioning into a world of offices, 9-to-5 schedules, and corporate hierarchy. It’s a big transition in and of itself, but it’s also one that’s been full of small details that are equally important.

There are client projects that I must finish in a timely and efficient manner. There are duties that need to be described and handed over. There are roles and responsibilities that must be abdicated and then passed on. As excited as I am about what’s next, I’ve still got to make sure everything is still taken care of.

When I was graduating high school, a mentor told me to make sure I finished well. That advice has stayed with me, and every time I end something, those words ring true. No matter what we’re ending, we’ve got to do it well.

How do you end things? Do you rush through them in order to move on, or do you double-check to make sure everything is happening in a timely and professional manner?

photo credit: rahims

We all have them. You give them out pretty frequently, quite possibly at parties. And you probably get a ton whenever you meet up with people.

Get your mind out of the gutter – I’m talking about business cards.

They say so much while saying so little. They’re such a part of the corporate world that we all know what to expect when we see one. Can one really be idealistic when it comes to this staple of society?

Perhaps. That’s exactly the question Matt Cheuvront asks when he challenges his readers to be memorable. His trick? A hand-written business card.

Guy Kawasaki calls attention to the handiwork of Justin Ruckman. These cards are easy on the eyes while cutting to the chase.

Of course, there’s a difference between being memorable and being ridiculed. What you might do by attempting to stand out may have you falling flat on your face. What’s important to remember, then, is the element of risk. No one was ever remembered for playing it safe. No one became remarkable or outstanding by maintaining the status quo.

So, whether it’s your business card or your business suit, your business model or your business plan, be willing to take an appropriate risk. Doing so may open you up to an entire new world of contacts, opportunity, and possibility.

Tell us: how do you take risks at work? How do you know which ones are worth taking?

photo credit: mccheek

Whether you’re a freelancer or a company lifer, you’ll always have the chance to get work done offsite. In fact, working somewhere other than your cube, office, or home can add a lot to your understanding of work/life balance. New scenery and new people can have you coming up with new ideas pretty quickly.

Of course, many of us head to the patron saint of offsite working, St. Arbucks. It was her CEO that happily said,

We’re in the business of human connection and humanity, creating communities in a third place between home and work.

But now, these third places are cracking down on those of us who like to sit and type our day away, logging billable hours or scheduling meetings. Some, as the Wall Street Journal reports, are banning laptops during lunch hours. Other coffee shops are taking away free Wi-Fi altogether. What’s a geek to do?

Of course, business is business. Shop owners need to make money, and someone who needs lunch and a hot drink is bringing in more revenue than you are (per hour, at least).

So tell us: If your third place or workplace did away with free Wi-Fi or banned laptops, what would you do? Go crazy? Protest? Find another location?

photo credit: Iain Farrell

There it was. Rather, there they were. Usually every day.

I’m talking about meeting requests. They don’t flood my inbox, but they’re there. And they don’t go away unless I do something about them.

The trouble with meeting requests is that you can rarely gauge how much trouble they’re worth. You could say no to just the right contact who could have landed you on Oprah (if you know how to do this, I’d like to meet with you, actually). Or, you could say yes to meeting with someone who just wanted to sell you pet insurance. How can one navigate the muddy meeting waters?

Monica O’Brien, who writes at Twentyset, says this:

I get messages almost daily from people who read my blog and want to meet with me by phone or in-person. As a rule, though, I won’t meet with anyone unless they have interacted with me several times, or they give me a good reason (not just “let’s chat”). I realize this may make me seem snobby or elite, which isn’t my intention.

My intention is to avoid time sucks. I would love to be everyone’s friend, but it isn’t a reality for me at this time. I have work, school, a house, and a family that all need my attention too.

Go read the rest of her article. It’s really about finding the right mentor – and not just about scheduling meetings. But, she does bring to light pertinent realities when it comes to making sure you take the right meetings and ditch the bad ones.

Whether you’re meeting someone new or deciding if it’s worth running over to the other department to meet with someone, how do you decide which meetings to take? We’d love to hear how you avoid time sucks and really capitalize on face-to-face encounters.

photo credit: sunsets_for_you

Last night, my wife and I received our first baby blanket for our daughter who arrives in January. It immediately got me thinking about an old, colorful blanket I had as a child. It had a picture of Snoopy on it, and while I did not need it to fall asleep every night, it was a must-have for Saturday morning cartoons or story time in the middle of the afternoon.

Whether it’s a pacifier, a stuffed animal, or a blanket, kids have security devices that help normalize their rapidly changing worlds. Adults have networks, expensive items they own, or careers. Or not.

In a conversation I had this week with a freelancer, he told me that he believes he’s more secure on his own than he is with a salaried corporate gig. I see his point – he’s at the mercy of his own skills and his ability to find new business rather than depend on someone or something else to make sure he still has enough work to do.

Then, I read this beauty by the very talented Carlos Miceli. He reminds us:

Job security may be the worst goal you can set for yourself.

The concept is outdated. If it ever existed, it was way too long ago.

Too much randomness rules our lives to aim for any kind of perpetuity.

He’s got a point. But so do those people who find a job they love working for someone else, reaping the best possible scenario of security or stability.

So the issue isn’t whether you should start a company or go work for one. The issue is what makes you feel most secure. Is it a salaried job somewhere you can climb the ladder? Is it hanging out your own shingle? Is it in teaching others how to make that decision?

Where do you feel most safe and sound when it comes to work?

The big news on the career/tech front this week was that Brazen Careerist transformed itself in “an all-out social network focused on flipping the conventional wisdom surrounding the resume by focusing on “idea feeds.””

While Brazen Careerist has been a great place for Gen Y bloggers to find one another, its renewed focus this week could change the game for employers and employees alike.

The main frustration I hear with recent graduates is that no one will hire them because they don’t have any experience. And they can’t get any experience unless someone hires them. This is the awful Twilight Zone paradox of trying to land a job in our world. After all, how can you really demonstrate that you will do a good job, even if you just haven’t had the chance to do a good job yet?

I hope that Brazen can change the career game by showcasing the great ideas of its community members. Then, I hope this trend will catch on and allow all of us to showcase our great ideas when looking for work. And ultimately, I hope that companies and organizations the world over will begin to find ways to measure the potential of new employees, and not just the past.

Tell us: when looking for work, how do you draw attention to your ideas?

photo credit: chanchan222

Regardless of what you think of football or Brett Favre, you’ve seen the same song and dance happen in different sectors. You’ve seen the CEO who hops from one large company to the next, even after his judgment and ingenuity have left him. You’ve seen the teacher who needs to retire instead of hang on one more year. You’ve seen the designer who no longer has a knack for creating compelling book covers.

But none of them can let go. Financial needs aside, some people can’t walk into the sunset peacefully, knowing when to call it quits and to move on.

I’m sure there’s a little bit of Brett Favre in most of us. Something is telling us to move on, but we just can’t do it.

I’m reminded of a stellar article written by Dr. Jeff Cornwall, Director for the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University. He challenges the entrepreneur (and the non-entrepreneur, too) to not “become the noun of what you do for a living.”

He continues:

One of the risks of using nouns to describe what we do in our work is that it can reinforce the tendency we all have to get carried away with our work. I loved starting a growing businesses (most of the time, at least). I love teaching and writing. It is indeed a blessing to love what one does for a living and enjoy the hard work that goes along with it. But, with every virtue there is a vice looming in the background. Although hard work is a good thing, it can be taken to excess and become a vice if it keeps us from all the other things we should be doing with our lives.

Go read the rest of the article and come back here and tell us how you resist becoming the noun of what you do for a living. How do you keep things in check and know when it’s time to exit gracefully?

photo credit: Nrbelex

I just finished the latest draft of our business plan. I hate writing business plans and tweaking spreadsheets. I only do it because there’s a chance it could wind up getting my company the money we need to grow.

Yesterday, I was speaking with a community group about how my company started. I was telling them about the first conversation between my business partner and I and how the outcome was an outline of the dry erase board. We still have a picture of it, somewhere, like it was our Rosetta Stone, helping us figure out where we were headed. Maybe it will be like Google’s garage.

Whether you run your own online business or you manage something that’s very offline, it’s important to think of how it all got started. Time and again, entrepreneurs and corporate leaders end up at a place questioning when it all changed. They wonder why a job they used to love turned into one they hate.

For me, it always helps to go back to the beginning. Or to put it on paper. Or to remind myself of the vision of what we’re trying to create. Doing so will help you find your place and make sure you don’t end up somewhere you don’t want to be.

What’s your relic? A founding document? An original business plan, piece of packaging or early prototype? Or, what keeps you on track towards that which you’ve been trying to create all along?

photo credit: Mountain/Ash

They may not talk about it much, but deep down, every entrepreneur, freelancer and consultant confronts it at some point: loneliness.

When you’re out on the road speaking, or writing code from the confines of your home office, or slaving away with earphones in at the coffee shop, you can’t deny the fact that you’re isolated. You’re making it on your own, and as great as that is, part of you kind of craves human interaction other than the kind that comes from communicating with a client or speaking to a room full of accountants.

Corporate America with its miles of cube farms isn’t necessarily the antidote to this disease. You can feel just as isolated in a room full of 250 peers with similar name badges as you do by yourself on your sofa. So it’s not just that you want people around, it’s that you want the right kind of people around.

You want friendly water cooler banter. You want the practical joke or the staff birthday to celebrate. You want the brainstorming session, the creativity maelstrom or the high-level meeting where the real decisions get made.

Is there a way to take the good without the bad? Or are you just left with the facts of the corporate or the entrepreneurial life when it comes to finding community during your day job?

One concept that has taken root in many cities is that of coworking, where entrepreneurs and visionaries find refuge, solace and community under one roof. But is it a perfect solution? Or should someone who wants regular interaction and even friendship start applying for jobs at larger companies?

Tell us: what’s been your experience with coworking? Anyone out there been a part of one? Or, how do you make friends and influence people as an entrepreneur? Or as someone who’s part of a larger company?