Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness* is a good reminder that sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and follow your passion.

Part autobiography, part tale of success-wrought-from-hard-work, part customer service bible, Delivering Happiness is a good read for entrepreneurs and business owners. There are lessons leaned about business models, core competencies, and flexibility. And Zappos’ 10 core values–and how they came about–will hopefully make you pause and assess whether you have identified and articulated your core business values.

What I liked best about Hsieh’s book was the process stuff:

• Zappos didn’t just identify problems (i.e., “We just don’t have the right products to offer our customers”), but took tough steps to change its business model to become profitable.
• Hsieh acknowledges mistakes (i.e., “As an e-commerce company, we should have considered warehousing to be our core competency from the beginning. Outsourcing that to a third party… was one of our biggest mistakes.)
• Zappos focused on three key areas (customer service, culture, and employee training and development).

If you’re looking for a dry business book, this isn’t the one to buy. But if you’re looking for a quick read, conversational style, and good takeaways, you won’t go wrong with Delivering Happiness.

Want to read Hsieh’s book? The kind Delivering Happiness book team gave me a second copy to give away to one lucky reader. Just tell me in the comments something you’ve done to wow a client or customer. The best answer (deemed by me) wins the book.

*Disclosure: I received a free copy of the book in exchange for agreeing to review it and post this link–but without any restrictions on what I might say.

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

This blog turns 2 today. It all started with a 74-word post about communications, business, and unique selling points. But the blog  is here because of you — my community.

So in honor of our second anniversary, let’s talk about you:

• Who are you? I know who some of you are — but not all of you. Whether you’re new or a seasoned reader, please take a minute to introduce yourself to the Independent Thinking community.
• What do you want me to write about? I’ve tried to stay true to my pledge to write about business, entrepreneurship, communications,social media, and how technology is impacting the way we work. But what kinds of posts resonate with you? Is there something you’d like to see me write about more? Something that’s missing from this blog?

Thank you. The comments are yours.

Photo by mischvelente (Flickr).

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

Each week I’m highlighting 3 or 4 posts, surveys, and other news that I have read and/or tweeted about that you may not have seen. As the name implies, I think they deserve a second look.

• How Ford Got Its Mojo Back: A must-read post about smart business strategy reveals how Ford CEO Alan Mulally valued employees and used a combination of transparency, energy, and long-term thinking to bring the automaker back from the brink.
• Driving Value in Health Care: “Today’s health delivery system and payment framework does not reward innovation around health management, prevention, and real-time consumer engagement… To truly shift the business of health, we need to drive the right combination of structural change, innovation and use of technology to create a better system–essentially, drive real value for every dollar spent.” Smart thinking around shifting the model.
• China’s First Entrepreneur: The BBC looks at the courage, smarts, and serendipity it took to become China’s first licensed entrepreneur.

Photo by omniNate (Flickr).

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

A new Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report surveys the entrepreneurial lifecycle in the United States. Drawing on 2008 data, What Entrepreneurs Are Up To looks at who starts a business and why, how start-ups begin, and the impact of public policy. There is also a chapter comparing the activity, attitudes, and aspirations of U.S. entrepreneurs with their counterparts in other countries.

A few key findings:

• Opportunity, not necessity, is a prime driver—especially for men. The survey found that only 5 percent of men start businesses out of necessity; for women, that number climbs to 21 percent.
• Entrepreneurs are skewing older, with an 8-9 percent increase in entrepreneurial activity among people 45 and older (and a commensurate drop in entrepreneurial activity  among those 18-44).
• Men have far better access to capital. GEM found that “women start ventures with eight-times less funding than their male counterparts.”
• Men typically start “business-service businesses”; women, consumer-oriented businesses.
• African-Americans have the highest level of start-up activity (13.9 percent versus 8.4 percent for whites and 8.6 percent for non-Mexican Hispanics).
• Social entrepreneurship is being largely driven by women, and is focused in the areas of health care, education, urban development, and the environment.

The report is packed with data, and I’ve just scratched the surface here.

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

I’m taking a page from Chris Brogan this year. He annually identifies “three words that I use as guidance for how I should conduct my efforts in the year to come.”

My three words for 2010: incubate, endorphins, and endurance. I’m going to use them, hopefully wisely, to guide my business.

• Incubate—While I’m not particularly rash, I am prone to scattering my efforts and trailing off in new directions. This year, I’m resolving to let my ideas take form before I take action. After all, there’s not much sense in digging in before you’re ready.
• Endorphins—I’ve described being a solopreneur as needing to be innovative, to know how to identify and seize opportunities, to be a risk taker, and—of course–to be independent. For me, this works best when I’m forward-focused. Endorphins give you a natural high, and I’m resolving to keep them flowing to keep me on track.
• Endurance—Owning a successful business requires being committed for the long haul and accepting that it requires hard work every day. Now that I’ve hit 20 years, I’m targeting 25. I have a mantra when I’m running any significant distance. It’s forward motion, and it’s all about understanding that if you keep going, one step at a time, you’ll find your success.

What are your guiding principles for 2010?

Photo by Son of Groucho (Flickr).

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

My latest IABC Independent Thinking business column is out, and the focus is on how we see ourselves and the shifting terminologies that we use to define ourselves and our businesses and the way we want our clients, customers and prospects to think of us.

There were several takeaways, but the real constant is that how you identify yourself may matter a great deal to someone else. So select your terminology with deliberation, recognize that perceptions differ, and be comfortable with your place in the business continuum.

Some really smart people weighed in on this topic, and it’s well worth the read. So go ahead, read it, and then tell me what term you use and why.

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

My first podcast is out!

I was interviewed by IABC’s Natasha Nicholson for CW Radio, and the topic is lessons learned in 20 years of business. The premise: the fundamentals of running a business haven’t changed in the last 20 years, but pretty much everything else has.

The 12-minute podcast looks at:

• how I got started
• how technology has changed business
• what the current economic climate means for small business
• tips for starting up

Take a listen, and then come back and let me know what you think.

Note: I’m trying to get the podcast uploaded to this post; hopefully I’ll be able to quickly sort out a file size limitations issue.

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

As if I didn’t have enough to read already, I’ve added a few new blogs into my Google Reader recently. Mostly focused on business and technology, but also one great new find on entrepreneurship.

If you haven’t bookmarked (or subscribed to) the Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship, here are three reasons to check it out:

1. The focus is global. While much of what I read is looking at U.S. policies and activities, this blog covers the world. So recent posts have featured stats from the OECD and developments in Egypt, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.
2. A solid foundation is key. While there is always a temptation to jump right into how to do something, having the right policies in place to foster innovation matters. This blog focuses on the policy side. Not always fun, but fundamentally important.
3. The authors are smart, and they write well. Talking about why Global Entrepreneurship Week matters, they write: It’s not just a collection of concurrent networking, ideas competitions, and mentoring events designed to spur young people to consider entrepreneurship. It’s also affirmation that upstream there is a larger pool of innovative entrepreneurs about to enter the world stage just when they’re needed most.

This is good stuff.

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

We all know the U.S. economy is entering a jobless recovery, which is really a sanitized way of saying that if you’re unemployed you can expect more of the same. We clearly need a jobs creation strategy, and fast.

So where will the jobs come from? If history is a guide, the answer is entrepreneurs. According to David Gray, director of the Workforce and Family program at the New America Foundation, entrepreneurs and small businesses account for 75 percent of all new jobs. Gray moderated a terrific program yesterday that looked at what needs to happen to pave the way for new opportunities for America’s entrepreneurs.

My key takeaways:

1. The Kauffman Foundation‘s Robert Litan pointed out that big firms don’t want to obsolesce what they’re making money on. As a result, all the sexy stuff is created by entrepreneurs.
2. Litan cited a study of Fortune 500 firms that found that one-half of them were formed during a recession or a bear market.
3. Don’t equate entrepreneurship with venture capital. Litan said that only 16 percent of the fastest growing companies were financed by venture capital.
4. Health care is a major barrier to entrepreneurship because people can’t leave their jobs.
5. Paul Glastris, editor-in-chief of the Washington Monthly, said that America needs to put “an entrepreneurship lens” around many of the policies being discussed.
6. We need to invest in broadband, health information technology, and a smart grid. Glastris said investment in these platforms is key to the ability of the U.S. to create cutting-edge, high-wage jobs.
7. Think U.S. broadband is fast? Australia’s broadband system is 4x faster; France’s is 9x faster, and Japan’s is 21x faster.
8. So what might these platforms look like? Mariah Blake, an editor at the Washington Monthly, talked about the need to turn the electric grid into a vibrant, interactive network.
9. Consider our grid today: There are no tools to manage the flow of electricity or to diagnose problems.
10. A smart grid would allow consumers and companies to manage their electricity usage on a micro-level. Blake said that this could spur innovation in dozens of industries. Why? Because consumers will have access to information about their usage, and entrepreneurs will be open to creating all kinds of software and services to help people use energy more efficiently.
11. Blake compared the smart grid to the iPhone Store. Apple owns the store, but it’s open in a way that allows for phenomenal innovation.

My final takeaway came via a question from a participant who said that entrepreneurs typically create things you never thought you needed. But here we know what we need. Litan suggested that we had the broad outline, the platform, but we still can’t see the applications.

That’s where entrepreneurs come in.

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.

Insomnia can make you a little crazy. If you’re prone to it, then you know that there’s nothing quite like flipping channels at 2:45 a.m. and discovering that your best options may be a slasher movie or the 20th iteration of LockUp Raw.

So I thought I’d found nirvana when I happened upon a 2005 episode of The Apprentice:UK. British entrepreneur Sir Alan Sugar was grilling the hapless four remaining contestants. He was particularly puzzled by one guy, who claimed to be a rather successful real estate entrepreneur but was ready to put it all on hold to be The Apprentice. After all, most entrepreneurs will do almost anything to avoid going back to work for someone else.

That’s when it happened: the guy said he was different. Sir Alan agreed–and fired him. Seemed a “duh” moment to me.

What do you think? Can you truly be an entrepreneur if you’re fine dropping everything to go to work for someone else?

©2010 Independent Thinking. All Rights Reserved.