Entrepreneur Geek

I do not believe there are traditional qualifications which make a business owner a winner. Drive, common sense and intuition count for a lot more. Even inventors and technical experts who start businesses tend not to be organisational types. They are often mavericks who want the freedom of self-employment. And although entrepreneurs have a reputation as wild risk-takers, in reality they judge the downsides carefully – because they have their own capital at stake, and they have learned about the dangers of the marketplace first hand.

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Typical entrepreneurs would have never been hired by these corporations – or indeed understood the complex modelling upon which the financiers based their entire business model. But the bankers placed far too much faith in such artificial worlds of computer programs and clever buzz words – and completely lost the plot.

Rajesh Patel, a client who’s starting on his own after an impressing career, suggested a Financial Times article about entrepreneurs and why top companies failed. It was a very interesting reading. My belief in entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship just got thicker!

Entrepreneurs take decisions on gut instincts. They of course study the background and numbers, but more often than not, their decisions are based on their intuitions. It’s managers who decide by spreadsheets!

What’s your take?

If the post about increasing spending, rather than saving intrigue / upset you, here’s something more!

A theory says that international bankers control almost all of the cash in the world. They have control over printing currency and the flow of money that circulates in the economy. And they have been controlling it for over a century now.

This 3.5 hour, fast-paced, non-fiction, historical documentary explains how international bankers manipulate America. It was produced by Patrick Carmack, directed and narrated by Bill Still. This video shows how the European and American banking systems have been taken over by the Rothschilds and other families.

The full video is available from Google for Download. You can view it from here as well.

Checkout the official site and some updates on people behind the video.

What do you think? How do you feel?

Some notes from today’s Team Leader Training in Magnet. The topic was how can we train ourselves to be leaders.

• Leadership = People around you producing expanding results.
• First step is taking responsibility. Responsibility = Ability to Respond. You have ability to respond to any situation, any person. Responsibility is not a burden. It’s a grace you give yourself.
• How do we listen to our people? People show up as we listen to them. If I listen to someone as a loser, he will always do things like a loser. Are we listening to our people as if they are leaders?
• Be a lifelong student. This does not come easily, you have to practice and allocate time to learn. Not just to learn technical skills, but also leadership.
• Keep your battery charged! Disempowering conversations drain your energy. Replace them with thoughts that give you energy.

I took a 3 hour session on How to Make the Most of your Internship Projects at Viva College in Virar yesterday. The session went great. Out of 95 attendees, 80%+ said they got great new ideas for their internship projects. 80%+ said they also got powerful insights in managing & implementing their projects. Here are some more reactions:

• Mind Blowing – Rajesh Gaikwad (professor in charge)
• Awesome – Brijesh Joshi (professor)
• I have attended other seminars, but this was the best ever!
• Where were you two months ago? (internship project planning started two months ago for the college, and many people repented the session did not happen two months ago)
• Superb – as usual – from you!
• I created some great project ideas by the end of the session.
• Excellent. Thank you!
• Truly motivating. This will help us a long way in our projects.

I am thrilled by the results! And am looking forward to see what projects the students do!

Here are the slides from the presentation.

World’s Best Presentation Contest

Would you like me to speak at your organization? Contact me at nirav at mehtanirav dot com.

We work on outsourced software development projects. One of the biggest challenges in that is to communicate effectively. We started having weekly telephone calls with customers to improve project execution. Here are some tips on drastically improving your effectiveness of handling conference calls with customers.

1. Connection: Have the number to call handy. And an alternate number to call in case the first does not work. Understand the timezone difference. Where will the client be when you call? Get connected 2 minutes earlier than scheduled.
2. Accent: Just as our clients have accent, for them, we have an accent. Indians have a variety of accents (per their cultural background) and that makes it even difficult for the client to understand what we say. Speak slowly, make sure each word is clear.
3. Disturbances: If there are disturbances on the line, don’t keep saying “are you there”, “can you hear me”, “i can hear you” etc. Keep going slowly. If you did not understand something because of the disturbance, tell the client “I didn’t get what you said (about …)” and let them answer.
4. Echo: Mute your microphone when you are not speaking. You may be on a speakerphone in a conference and the client may get echo of what he is speaking if you are not on mute. The same may happen to you if the client is on speakerphone. You can request them to mute their line while you are speaking. This will even save you some bandwidth if you are using VoIP.
5. Homework: Be prepared for the conference call. A conference call is a meeting. So be prepared with the agenda, be ready with your status updates or questions.
6. Culture Difference: Be aware of the culture difference. Your client’s expectations and understanding will not be the same as yours. The slang will be different. Some clients will be very demanding, some will be easy. Watch for this and act accordingly.
7. Cutting Long Conversations short: You or the client may keep on talking. Cut this short – unless it’s contributing. If the client is repeating himself, check whether you understood what they said, and if you reiterated that to them. Go ahead, explain the client what you understood. This will most probably reassure them that you got what they wanted to say. When needed, remind the client about the agenda and time limit for the meeting. And get back on track. Tell them you “would love to get to work on what’s been discussed. And will give an update at the end of the day”.
8. Correct Grammar: Speak good English. Incorrect grammar can upset the customer. It will not only make it difficult for your client to understand you, but will also give a bad impression of you. Practice speaking.
9. Greeting and Closing: Greet with a “good evening” (or similar, depending on the client’s time). And close with a “Thank you”. At the end of the meeting, summarize the actions to be taken now, and provide an update on when can the client expect to hear from you.
10. Listening: The most important thing on any call, is to listen to the other person! Listen actively. Repeat what the client says in your head. This will help you understand it. If you don’t understand, say what you did, and request the client to explain the rest. Practice listening! This is one thing that can elevate your performance anywhere!

What do you say about this? Are there any other tips you’ve got? Any experiences you want to share? Feel free to comment!