business isn't usual in Second Life

Linden Labs launched its Second Life virtual world in 2002. Since then it's become a phenomena with more than 15 million residents. While many still view Second Life as a gaming environment many more are realizing its potential for project collaborations, business opportunities, and professional development.

Think I'm kidding? Here are current statistics:






Can SL, and other virtual worlds like it, be a platform for business? SL is a popular spot for virtual conferences, training, study groups, consumer research, and more. It's no wonder that big businesses like Sony, Dell, IBM, Target, and others created destinations in Second Life.

But are they successful? Most haven't been able to make significant revenue gains with residents. When we evaluate traditional business models we can readily see why they've been unsuccessful. It's impossible to run an old-world model in a new world. If Henry Ford hadn't closed his plant to refit it for assembly line production of the Model T in 1927 we might not have a Ford Motor Company today.

Many have speculated why many of these corporate titans are closing up shop and moving out of SL. I think the bottom line is that virtual environments require interaction with the user. Second Life is built on the idea of one-to-one connections and the sharing of information. It's more than customer service, it's a matter of rethinking how we engage consumers.

money is made of paper

Recently, my daughter attempted to put a stop to my granddaughter's desire for every item on the store shelves by saying, "Money doesn't grow on trees." In her inimitable 5 year old style my granddaughter quite seriously replied, "Mommy, money is made of paper and paper comes from trees."

While a child doesn't understand the value, or worth, of money we, as adults, should. Especially as business owners. Unfortunately, all too often, I have to have a heart-to-heart with a client about their organizational spending habits and fiscal responsibilities. Most recently, an organization I've been trying to help develop chose to purchase an item that was neither necessary or affordable. It was so far out of their budget that in order to make good on the payment they cut a half-time staff position. That is, they let an employee go. It was also the end of our working relationship.

I cannot emphasize enough how important fiscal responsibility and good judgment are to business success. Here are some tips to help you appreciate that money, like the trees it's made from, is not in unlimited supply.

• Be organized because if you aren't you'll spend more time and money than you actually have. Create good filing systems so important documents can be saved and easily retrieved. Have policies and procedures in place so expectations are clear. Use a good accounting software and a bookkeeper.
  
• Fiscal responsibility is vital to financial success - if you can't manage a dime you'll never be able to manage a dollar. Have a budget as part of your strategic plan. Review financial reports regularly as part of your management decision-making process.
  
• Invest in the tools and training that will increase your chances for success.
• Maintain a paper trail. That is, make sure there is sufficient documentation to substantiate your decisions and their outcomes.

I just received a call from a board director of an organization in need of a little help. Apparently, the only board documentation they have to direct their processes are the original Bylaws. He told me he was concerned that the board could not fulfill its fiduciary responsibilities appropriately because they only met once a year, didn't keep minutes, didn't have an indemnification clause in their bylaws, and lacked policies and procedures. Further, it hadn't had an audit done in several years and the IRS took administrative action regarding their exempt status.

This situation occurs more frequently than you might imagine. When I talk with clients about building their organizational capacity this is exactly what I'm trying to help them avoid.

Susan Powter, a health and fitness guru from the 90s, stressed that in order to be healthy you have to eat, breathe, and move. To succeed in business you have to plan, act, and monitor.

open source

I'm a big fan of open source software. The idea of collaboration and access appeals to me. It's a building block of the work I do with my clients. It's my "style" so, naturally it's an integral part of the way I want to see the world.

For small businesses and the newbie entrepreneur I often share open source as an alternative to high-priced, proprietary software such as Norton Antivirus, Microsoft Office, and QuickBooks Accounting. While these are good products, they're expensive and likely to suck the user into an annual cycle of buying new versions at increasingly higher costs.

And those costs increase not only in terms of product purchase price, but in system conflicts, system bloat, learning curves due to functionality changes, sometimes even in forcing the user to buy new equipment altogether just to "keep up."

The #1 question I'm asked is, "What else can I do?". Sometimes the answer is easy. For a single user working from home I recommend AVG Free Edition Antivirus instead of Mcafee or Norton. I recommend OpenOffice as a dependable and full-featured alternative to Microsoft Office.

When it comes to accounting software I recommend any business owner speak with their accountant before using any of the applications available. There are a number of things that should be considered as you evaluate various accounting packages.

Some of the considerations are, how big is the business, what type of business is it, are you, but business owner, doing the bookkeeping or is there a bookkeeper, what software does your accountant support (might make your life easier when it comes to taxes or audits). For a complete discussion about this go to GReat Kreations.

Having said all of that, here are three of the best and most popular open source accounting packages available:

OSAS Open Source Accounting Suite - OSAS is award-winning accounting software for Windows, Linux, UNIX and Mac users. OSAS can be used by churches, charities, and small corporations. The main features of this product include separation of duties, General Ledger Accounting, Cost Center Accounting, Budgeting, Donation Accounting and Reporting.

GnuCash Financial Accounting Software - GnuCash is personal and small-business financial-accounting software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL and available for GNU/Linux, BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. Designed to be easy to use, yet powerful and flexible, GnuCash allows you to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. As quick and intuitive to use as a checkbook register, it is based on professional accounting principles to ensure balanced books and accurate reports.

Grisbi Personal Accounting - Grisbi is a personal accounting application running under GNU/Linux and Windows, released under the GPL licence. Grisbi can manage multiple accounts, currencies and users. It manages third party, expenditure and receipt categories, as well as budgetary lines, financial years, and other informations that makes it quite adapted for associations (except those that require double entry accounting).

time is on my side

Too often we get caught up in the importance of time. At least, I do... or did. I've been known to get physically ill over what isn't accomplished in a set period of time. Fortunately, I've pretty much grown past this reaction to stress, but occasionally I still look like a V8 commercial.

I know a lot of people who have what I call "reactions to distractions". These reactions occur - without thought, intention, or planning - when something happens that causes a project to take longer than planned, strand you in traffic on your way to a meeting, or make you want to kick yourself because you answered the phone just because it rang.

I worked for a long time to identify what I was doing with the 168 hours a week I have at my disposal and why I wasn't getting anything done with that time. Sure, I ate some, slept a little, and appeared at work. What I wasn't able to do was accomplish anything. What I realized was the lack of accomplishment was a result of allowing others (people, things, and circumstances) to control what I did. I allowed others to put things on my agenda that caused me to have "reactions to distractions." Looking back I think they were doing it as a form of entertainment.

Little did they realize the challenges I spent years tripping over were catalysts to my higher learning. I picked up some great strategies for managing my work, my reactions to work, and eventually carved out time to do it "My Way."

Gurus of yesteryear have made way for the likes of Tim Ferris. I just read a great post from Tim's blog (www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog):

Time without attention is worthless, so value attention over time.

Here are a few questions that can help you put on the productivity blinders and put things in perspective. Even when you’re not traveling the world, develop the habit of letting small bad things happen. If you don’t, you’ll never find time for the life-changing big things, whether important tasks or true peak experiences. If you do force the time but puncture it with distractions, you won’t have the attention to appreciate it.

-What is the one goal, if completed, that could change everything?

-What is the most urgent thing right now that you feel you "must" or "should" do?

-Can you let the urgent "fail" — even for a day — to get to the next milestone with your potential lifechanging tasks?

-What’s been on your “to-do” list the longest? Start it first thing in the morning and don’t allow interruptions or lunch until you finish.

Will “bad” things happen? Small problems will crop up, yes. A few people will complain and quickly get over it. BUT, the bigger picture items you complete will let you see these for what they are–minutiae and repairable hiccups. Make this trade a habit.

I'm sure these ideas seem mundane and familiar. Stephen Covey, David Allen, even Ken Blanchard have contributed volumes on the subject. Tim takes all of that and moves it into the 21st century. Cliche? Not really. Today's technology has wrapped itself around us like chains - binding and constraining us. Why? Because we don't know how to use it.

A little old-school plus a little techno-understanding and you've got a powerful system for managing the events and expectations of your time. To begin with, there's nothing like a 40 hour work-week becoming just that so you can enjoy the remaining 128. From there the possibilities are endless.