I think we need to rename our species now – I think that Homo-Sapiens is out of date. I think it would be appropriate to call ourselves Homo-Technicus (man who works/lives with technology) because we are certainly at the point where we couldn’t exist without it. As a species we have slapped the “Too Big to Fail” sticker on our rather large rear bumpers, and the revolution will not be televised – instead it will be broadcast in streaming video 24 hrs a day to your smart phone, hanging from your hip if not implanted into your head and your BIOS (bio-operating-system) which I just made up.
Many years ago one of my cousins formed a company called The Two Hammer Roofing Company – it was obvious from its name that they were a rinky-dink operation. Two guys, probably one ladder, one truck and just enough capability to land enough work to buy Kegs through the University year. Nobody would hire The Two Hammer Roofing Company for anything important, they were obviously not up to the job.
However, with all of the advancements in technology, specifically the Internet, and a switch from a manufacturing economy to information based economy – the world, and how the world works is a very different place.
Today we practically shout from the roof tops “I am a small time operation” – because smaller no longer means limited capability, now it means specific, nimble, and specialized. We are not roofing companies, we are only roofing companies and we leave the plumbing and the electrical to other people – we do one thing, really well.
Technology has changed the way we work, and the way we produce. Technology has eliminated the factory and the middle man – I am now my own factory, my own head of sales/distribution and I choose whom I work with, and who for.
Sweetie, me and the little girl spend our summers up here on the Lake. Through a stroke of luck, and some rather hard earned Karma I managed to land a log cabin in the middle of a provincial park. The lake that I am on, literally right now as I type this is 13 miles long. We and our six neighbors are the only people on it and we know that we are spoiled. I’m not boasting – I just want you to understand that I am out here in the middle of nowhere – literally. Even Canadians think I am in the middle of nowhere.
In 1942 The Winchester Rifle company built our cabin as a hunting lodge, the first thing I did was install a dishwasher. Hysterical and somewhat tragic I realize – there are friends who will read this and quickly send an email, reminding me of the days when I declared a fatwa on fleece, shrugging it off for warm, wet wool.
However, as the years drift by the two axis representing those things I need as well as those things I want, are moving closer together. I now really appreciate comfort, and I also really need it.
Here is an example of how I leverage technology every day while working remotely. Remotely can mean anywhere – not just here at Pine Lodge, I am often away from home speaking at conferences. Nick manages my life, and he fills in the hours of my day with calls. If I am in California, I can start having calls at 6AM PAC which is 9AM in NYC. On a given day I might have a dozen calls, and deliver a speech before flying home at 2PM.
Without technology, this wouldn’t be possible. Without technology I would need more people working for me – more people doing simple tasks to push the project along, to ensure that nothing slips through the cracks and all deadlines are met.
Nick will add events to my calendar, and notify me via email. I receive the email when I land, and I can access my schedule from my iPhone.
The entire operation is run by www.salesforce.com which is what we use as a CRM, and it is also what we used as the platform for our application.
Through an application that cost a few dollars, I am able to record the conversation using my iPhone. After the call I download the sound file to iTunes where Nick downloads it.
Once we download the call, we have two choices – we can run it all through a program that Nick found online for free that converts it from an audio file into text and then pull all the valuable information out of it and store it in our CRM, or we can keep it in the client record as an audio file and listen to it again in the future if we need it.
I use the same process for creating or writing – I drive and talk. When I drive to the airport I just slip my iPhone into my pocket and talk and it records everything. I email Nick the sound file from the lounge, he pops it into the converter and emails me back a script, which I read and edit on the flight and it becomes a new chapter in a book, or a new campaign for the application. Because of technology, I am free to roam, to tour, and to live by my own rules. It feels pretty good.
Because of technology, I am here at Pine Lodge but I am finishing work for clients in Florida and Massachusetts.
What about the laptop? This amazing tool can be bought, new or used for next to nothing. It’s a factory – I can produce everything with it so long as I am wearing my BOSE noise-cancelling headphones (although this is true, I admit that I included reference to it to make you laugh).
The laptop runs the CRM and iTunes which synchs with my iPhone. The sound engineering and movie making capabilities are all included … My entire factory costs about $2000 and I can now buy an iPad for about $1200 that may make it even easier – if that’s even possible.
I spend a lot of my time politely telling people that I don’t want or need a partner. I’m flattered but I don’t need or even want to be the 3 Hammer Roofing Company. If I meet one more guy who tells me that he has great ideas, I am going to throw myself off a cliff. Nick and I don’t need ideas – we need execution, that’s it. I already have too many ideas and not enough time to get them off the ground.
The only thing that will prevent your Two Hammer Roofing Company from becoming a $1,000,000 dollar business is your own imagination, and unwillingness to accept that the times, they are a changing.
Speaking of imagination, look what my cousin did after The Two Hammer Roofing Company … www.wakefieldmill.com
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