There doesn’t seem to be a week go by when someone will ask me about running a successful business. My usual response is business is business – no matter what industry you are in so you better invest time in making sure you understand how it works. I seem to spend a lot more time managing people and resources and of course the books – Balance Sheet, P&L, job costing and that we don’t have revenue leaking like a sieve trying to stop Niagara Falls.

I’m always in the car going to meetings and doing what I do best – being in front of clients. Working with creatives on a new pitch. Driving is part of my day to day operations. My iPhone always get a good workout in the car. Despite all the calls I seem to fit in a few songs here and there. But  one thing that I’ve really been getting a lot of use from lately is all my new found Audiobooks. So today I wanted to mentioned a great book from the author that brought you the Purple Cow has put together a collection of short messages from so many great people. It’s called the Big Moo by Seth Godin and it’s available through iTunes. I’m not going to give anything away here about the book.

Stop trying to be perfect and start being remarkable

Please don’t send me emails and tell me off about promoting other people’s work. I know, keep on track and focus about your own stuff. But really, it comes down to listening to others who have seen what others have done. Call it what you like, but I feel that this is the best way to accelerate your thought process and even get yourself looking ‘outside of the square’.

Maybe ask yourself what are can you do different? Maybe its a better way to showcase your work. Laugh all you like, and yes, I don’t have my work up right now. So I am sort of eating my own words. But! I am working on a new way to showcase the work at blinq. It’s important to ensure that its done right. I thought we had it right a few weeks ago when we went live with this new website but not long after we did, we ripped it down. Wow, talk about digression.

Let’s get back on track. Hopefully you have stayed onboard while I was off on that tangent. When it has come to inspirations, there have been may of them. I’m sure my good friend Stuart Roberts will kill me for mentioning his name here – but lets live a little dangerously. He’s a great friend who is always getting to know what my business is about and then giving me some thought provoking ideas. I usually walk away with some new ideas on what to look for in the near future. The great thing about Stuart is he’s not a photographer. He’s a very intelligent business guy who knows how to run a very well oiled operation (no names mentioned) and we’re talking in the 100′s of millions. His insight is priceless.

So, to wrap up, my point is that you should surround yourself with many people who have will be more than happy to listen to your ideas and give you good constructive feedback. As an example, the people that I speak to about my business range from other business owners of the same size and then at the other end end of the scale people who operate millions, if not, billions of dollars in revenue. You would also find me talking to marketing and strategic development folks about how I can change the game and gain a competitive advantage. The important thing is, keep thinking and talking to people because the moment you don’t, the opportunity to make change and gain new business is lost.