Company Of One With Dale Callahan

Overwhelmed? Recently, I spent some time in Dallas with members of my mastermind team and one topic that kept coming up over and over was the feeling of being overwhelmed. So, we decided to take an hour out and talk about strategies for dealing with overwhelm by learning what each one of us does when we feel overwhelmed. I took notes, and now I share them with you. "Creative Commons" by Sonja Langford is licensed under CC BY 2.0[/featured-image]Click to ListenStrategies in Dealing with OverwhelmDecideDefine what really matters: We tend to think we can do everything and serve everyone. We can't. Give it up. Figure out what really matters and focus your attention there.Just Say No: Say no to almost anything that is not a HECK YES!!! Once you have defined what really matters, this is easier. A great read on this is the book Essentialism.Say yes once: Related to the Just Say No, learn to focus on what really matters. Just say yes to the number one thing. Everything else falls away.Look InsideRecog

When we think of ways to make a living, we often get stuck on our training, our college degree, and our past work history. But, many careers have been started out of raw personal experiences. Today I interview one of those career changers - Steve Ozanich, - who went from engineer to author specializing in chronic pain relief. His journey did not take him through medical school, but instead through personal pain and finally relief. "Creative Commons" by Todd Quackenbush tvol is licensed under CC BY 2.0 [/featured-image]Click to ListenWhy I Wanted this InterviewWhen I invited Steve to do a podcast with me, I had four reasons in mind.Career Defined by Passion - He is another example of someone who took his personal journey and passion to make it his career. In the audio you will hear the passion!Pain is Prominent at Work - Since I know many of you hate your jobs or careers, I can only assume many of you are suffering physical pain and going through a lot of healthcare paths looking for help. Steve mig

One of the biggest challenges with new businesses is they are slow to start. Once the decision is made - you must get products on the market as soon as possible. Seth Godin uses the term "SHIP IT" often. Seth is trying to say "It will never be perfect, you must ship product. Here in this audio and video I will walk you through the common sales path, I call the critical sales path, showing you how new companies really put products on the market and improve them along the way. "Creative Commons" by Luca Zanon is licensed under CC BY 2.0[/featured-image]Click to ListenKey MessagesSales are the CRITICAL part of the businessProcesses and products should evolve with salesNo sales = no businessTwo Major Failures in BusinessTrying to get perfect processes before you start.Never improving the processes after you start.Steps in the Critical Sales Path1st Sale - Critical to create momentum2nd Sale - Keep it going10th sale - you are beginning to learn what your customers REALLY want100th sale -

So you have a business idea. Want to find out if you have a good idea and can really make money? Well it is a simple process I call Opportunity Analysis. An opportunity analysis allows you to get some idea of the size of the market and then to get a reasonable view of just how much money you can make. Don’t be like so many others who have gone into businesses which are limited in the amount of income. Would you want to go into a business where you can only make $65,000 per year if you do well? Many do. “Creative Commons " by Forrest Cavale is licensed under CC BY 2.0 [/featured-image]Click to ListenSteps to an Opportunity AnalysisGet ClarityWhat will you do? Be clear and concise!Who is the customer? Think of a list. How big?What is the pain that you are relieving? This is your value proposition.What is the market size of YOUR segment?What is the price?Ask a Woman Something about women's intuition really works. I do not claim to understand it, but I know of tons of business people - men and women -

The dream of many across the world is to own their own business. Everyday many industrious people all over the world are exploring business ideas. I want to help you in your explore to find ideas that  fit your personality AND also will make you money. "Creative Commons" by Josefa Holland-Merten is licensed under CC BY 2.0[/featured-image]Click to ListenCoachingI have recently started working with new coaching clients. If you are in need of a career change or are working a business venture that needs some help, check out my coaching page for ways we can work together.How to Find a Good Business IdeaDo’s Start thinking through your calling. (If you have not already done so, download my free ebook - See below). These are things you love to do and things that already interest you. The advantages here are that you have expertise and you will not have to fake your interest.Think about your reasons. Is it more time with kids? More freedom of time? Freedom to travel. Too many have started a business to ge

How do you keep someone from stealing your idea? This is one of the most frequent questions I get from budding entrepreneurs. Here is my common sense advice that will help you move past being frozen without totally abandoning common sense. "Creative Commons" by Grégoire Hervé-Bazin is licensed under CC BY 2.0[/featured-image]Click to ListenDale’s Rule of Thumb:  "People who will steal ideas cannot execute them."]Corollary:  "People who can execute ideas do not need yours."] Five Things You Can Do to Protect Your IdeaMake sure your ideas is really unique. Most people think their idea is new, but often it is not. So before you get too worried about protecting something that someone else owns, search and find if it has already been done. Beware of the red jeep rule. (Do a quick patent search)Document your idea. Use photos, notes, emails to trusted people or even to yourself. Common sense stuff.  (Engineering Notebooks)File a provisional patent. (See provisional patent forms)Sign

In my annual review, I wanted to find my most popular shows of 2014. Why would you care? First, many of you are content creators and I wanted to show you how I find new ideas. Second, it is just fun to learn what others are thinking. So here is a quick review of my most popular shows of 2014. "Creative Commons " by Rula Sibai is licensed under CC BY 2.0[/featured-image]Click to Listen Looking Back to 2014I hope by now that all of you have had a chance to look back at some things that worked in 2014. Looking back to my most visited pages tells me what people are thinking and what matters most to them.Live Webinar – How to Create Your First Information ProductOn January 20, 2015 I am going to do a live webinar on How to Create Your First Information Product in 30 Days. I’m getting ready for the next release of Product Creation Academy so I’m going to cover some steps about how you can create information products.Most Popular Pages of 2014:My homepage5 Ways to Create Productive Thinking TimesReverse I

Is it OK to want a new job that has more meaning to you when so many other people are unemployed?  Should you not just be content with your work and live the blessing you have been given? Most of my clients do NOT like their job. There - I said it - most do not like their job. For most, they work for a good company and have good people around them, but something is missing. They are unfulfilled. They do not care about the mission of the company. They are bored. So, should they just grin and make the best of it or should they go after something that matters? "Creative Commons Hope" by pol sifter is licensed under CC BY 2.0[/featured-image]Click to ListenHow Can I help You in 2015? Click here to tell me!Survey SaysIf you have not taken my reader/listener survey - please do! But, looking at the data as it stands now, here are the top issues:I feel trapped in my jobI need or would like more incomeKey Indicators You Need a ChangePersonal reasonsNo Passion - You just do not feel it.Morning Blues - You dr

Want answers and solutions to your problems? Then FIRST you must get clarity in your questions. As I sit here reviewing my interactions with you and others from last year, I realize that most people are very unclear in their questions when they approach me. Instead of asking what they really want to know, they come with statements, which are often statements of hopelessness. "I cannot get more time because I have a job and kids," instead of, "How do you find time with a job and kids?" In this podcast, I will provide you a tool to help you develop clarity in your questions and in turn find hope and inspiration for the future! Finding Clarity in Your Questions  - "Creative Commons Fog Ocean Sunset" by Mike Behnken is licensed under CC BY 2.0[/featured-image]Click to ListenHelp! Take My Reader/Listener Survey How To Get Clarity on the QuestionsGoals: List the things you are trying to accomplish, goals if you will. (For more details on goal setting see Setting Goals of Next Year and

Ever get stuck needing ideas, or perhaps just needing better ideas or more ideas? We often find ourselves stuck in not knowing what to do over even seemingly simple decisions. Just the other day I was meeting two friends, one being Jonathan, a musician who has started blogging. Jonathan was stuck trying to find what to write about on his blog and had few ideas. As two of us listened and heard about his vision, we helped him generate over 20 ideas (I bet it was a lot more than that - but I am being conservative) for very interesting blog posts. Not because the other two of us are brilliant, but because we had another perspective. What are you stuck on? What area of your life needs new and fresh ideas? Below I have outlined an approach for creating a one time mastermind session. "Creative Commons Good Idea" by Celestine Chua is licensed under CC BY 2.0[/featured-image]Click to ListenTake My SurveyHelp! I need YOUR feedback. Fill out the survey and then shoot me an email telling me you did and I will

Do you feel overwhelmed? Just a few days ago I was sitting ready to get to work, looking at a list of things to do. But the list was huge and some of the individual items seemed overwhelming on their own. I sat for some time staring at them and wondering what to do first. I finally shook out of it and went to get coffee. But, when I came back, the list was still there. I needed a better way to deal with all I needed to do. Hours later, Lea was telling me the same thing - she was overwhelmed. What about you? Do you have more to do than you can handle? When you look at things do you ever feel stuck, wondering what to do first?[featured-image single_newwindow="false" title="Stress level: Midnight"]"Creative Commons Stress Level: Midnight" by Sara V. is licensed under CC BY 2.0[/featured-image]Click to Listen**Would love your feedback. Take my reader interest survey. Shoot me an email that you have taken it and I will provide you my list of tools for creating audio and video for the

The most successful people I know spend time to think. Like us, they are busy, have families and responsibilities, so they have to find ways to force thinking time into their schedule. Why? They know success is tied to thinking and action. Action can be easy, but thinking about what action to take, now that is the key. As one person suggested to me on thinking time, if you are not thinking you are not leading, you are only following. And followers are average. My son David in his "thinking time"[/featured-image]Click to ListenWhy You Need a Thinking Time"Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in." -- Alan AldaWith all the inputs coming at you on a daily basis, you need time to process the information and do something active. Your ability to think and reason is what makes you different from a robot. Robots just respond to commands and stimuli.  Don't be a robot - THINK."Any man who reads too much and uses his

Are you thinking about moving from employee to entrepreneur? Over 50% of Americans want to start a business. And when you get to those in their 20’s and 30’s, that number increases to about 65%. Other countries have similar statistics. So if you are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, you are in good company. But, how do you prepare to move from employee to entrepreneur? I am currently helping one of my clients, Bob (not his real name), who is preparing to make this transition from employee to entrepreneur. Here is a quick snapshot of the process we have been taking.[featured-image single_newwindow="false"]"Another Gorgeous Outer Banks Sunrise" by Michael Bentley licensed by CC 2.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/  Edited with text. [/featured-image]Click to ListenEmployee to Entrepreneur TransitionA few years ago, my wife Lea and I felt like God was leading us to go into missions work. So, we began to seek counsel, starting with our pastor. He asked us how much we had be

Everyone is an entrepreneur - technically speaking. The question is, what kind of entrepreneur are you? And perhaps more important, what kind do you want to be. You make money to live, and depending on who you are and what you want, how you make money and who you serve is the key question. This is a quick look at some pros and cons of where you are that I hope will help you think a bit about where you would like to be. Click to ListenThree Entrepreneurship Models - What Kind of Entrepreneur are You?The Employee ModelMost people do not think about this model as being an entrepreneur. This might explain why so many corporate workers are miserable and lacking in growth. But the reality is, if you are serving others and getting paid for it, you are in business. (The definition of business is the exchange of money for goods and/or services.)Here are some characteristics of the employee model of entrepreneurship.Stability - Perceived to be stable. The reality is that working for a corporate job, especially in a la

A few years ago I took a leadership position at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Not in so many words I was told, “You have no money, no people, and no resources, but congratulations, you are in charge.” When I speak to leaders at all levels, I get the impression they have the same problem. Recently I was speaking to a group of school system CIOs who are all working with limited resources having to lead with what they have got. If you find yourself in that situation, here are three things I have learned about getting control and leading with limited resources. [/featured-image]Click to ListenFive Ways to Start a Business for Less than $10001. Get PerspectiveAs a leader, you have to step back and see the landscape of what you are doing and how you are doing it. Some of the best tools I have found to do this are:Networking - When I have a problem to solve, I tend to start searching google and try to figure it out on my own. But that rarely works. Instead, I have learned to find the person who has alrea

Should you follow your passion or not? In my talks I often state two things: 1) the most successful people have passion for what they do and  2) to find the best work for you find ways to connect the work you love to money. After the talk, some will mention authors that argue against the “find your passion” mantra. For example, Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs tells people that “finding your passion is terrible advice." Another who talk against finding passion is Scott Adams, author of the Dilbert Cartoon Series. And of course my own friends and clients often challenge these ideas. Recently Rusty Hyde of Hyde Engineering challenged the "follow your passion" thinking. With so many smart people challenging this thinking, I thought perhaps it was time to look into my message.[featured-image single_newwindow="false"]Click to ListenDid I Say That?I was trying to find out where I tell people to follow their passion. While I am sure I have used those words, what I usually do is tell them to find thei

It is an epidemic. Everyone seems to want to start a nonprofit. They want to serve the inner city, the poor, the boys without fathers, those who cannot read, and many other causes. Yet, when I hear nonprofit, my heart sinks. It is not that nonprofits are bad, but something about our society is being said when we all want to be a nonprofit. If you are thinking a nonprofit works for you, here I will challenge some of your assumptions.[featured-image single_newwindow="false"]Click to ListenReasons to Rethink Your Plan to Start a NonprofitAll business serves people. It seems as a society we have been taught that being a for-profit business is evil. We begin to believe that businesses which are about making a profit do not serve people. Nothing is further from the truth. Business is all about service. Look around and see all the positive impacts that have come from for-profit business ventures.Disconnecting the customers from the person served. This is one of the greatest challenges nonprofits have. They

Building a network is one thing, managing your contacts is quite another. With so many platforms (Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, email, etc) to keep up with, it is hard to reminder the last time I checked in with the key people in my network, much less what we said. But worse than that, I noticed that I would meet some great contact, and by the time I got back with them a year or more had past. The initial meeting and relationship had gone cold. Now I was working to rebuild the relationship. I was searching for some simple solution to keep up with it all. Then my mastermind group showed me Contactually. Contactually Devices | Courtesy of Contactually[/featured-image]Click to Listen "Pull together contacts from LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and email!"]Contactually is a powerful tool that helps me do some of the things I continually teach others to do. (For example in Networking for Introverts)Develop key contacts that I want to grow and stay in touch with them.Find ways to periodically add value to t

If I asked you what you were working toward, could you tell me? A recent conversation startled me. A very bright and well educated man I was coaching told me of his dream to start a non-profit to help stamp out illiteracy. He had a true heart for those who were held back because they could not read. But, his short term goal was to move up in his company. Sensing that I was not hearing him right, I asked why he had two opposing career goals. Both would take energy and commitment. In reality, he could not do both. He told me, “I work my day job to fund my dream.” Dream - Courtesy of flicker/CreativeCommons | greg westfall [/featured-image]Click to Listen  "I work my day job to fund my dream."]Question the DreamHis statement led me into some obvious questions:How much money do you need to start?He did not know.Are you serving this group now on a volunteer basis?He wished he could more, but his job is too busy.Why don’t you start now?All people who run non-profits seem to be broke themselves. He did n

Are you running yourself to death? The typical family with careers and kids spend most of their time running and working. They run to get their kids to school. They run to work, which is running all day. Then they run home to get their kids and take them to their endless array of sports and activities. All in the name of providing for our kids and "living the dream". Hurry, Hurry (Courtesy Flicker/Creative Commons - abbilder)[/featured-image]Click to ListenThe end result is exhaustion, burnout, poor eating, lack of exercise, and shallow relationships. Most parents do not even really know their kids. They are not spending time with them, they are spending their time serving them. Why? We have to, or course. We have to do it all and do it well.As I meet with and speak to people all over the world, I see the same challenges. They are the have-tos of life, which are rarely challenged.You have tosGo to college to be successful. (or send my kids so they will be successful)Get a loan to go to college.Go t