MeDirected » HPC http://www.medirected.com My Life Redirected Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:45:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Working In or Working On Your Business http://www.medirected.com/2009/11/working-in-or-working-on-your-business/ http://www.medirected.com/2009/11/working-in-or-working-on-your-business/#comments Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:55:32 +0000 mike http://www.medirected.com/?p=402 Over the past month one of the realizations I’ve made is that I’m spending too much time working IN my business and not enough time working ON my business. Part of this is to be expected being a small business owner on a new venture. I’ve had Athletic Lab open for 4 months now and in addition to the training, coaching and program design that is our core-business; I end up doing the majority of the menial tasks just to keep the gym in working order as well as handling the less-local consulting and correspondence training operations of HPC. But I’m coming to the realization that to get things to accelerate at Athletic Lab I need to start working more ON the business rather than so much in it. Things are working ok right now but as the business continues to pick up steam I’m inching closer and closer to the limits of what I can handle. By working IN my business, I’ve been spending too much time doing things that I should be delegating or outsourcing. The tricky thing is that making the transition from IN to ON takes additional time investment. To make the switch you not only have to handle what you’re already doing; you also have to figure out what needs done, develop a system for doing it that others can follow, and then train someone to do the job your currently handling. To work ON your business you need to start out doing all the work but have the goal of eventually turning much of it over to someone else. You need to keep track of what you’re doing, when you’re doing it and how you’re doing it. In my case, I’ve started writing down detailed procedures as I do the things that I think will eventually be passed on to an assistant.

The four main things you need to remember in this process are (via Gerber):

  1. What can I do to make my business run without me?
  2. How can I get my assistants to work with as little interference or direction from me as possible?
  3. How can I own my business but still be free from it?
  4. How can I spend my time doing the work I love to do, rather than the work I have to do?

The ultimate goal of working ON your business should be to make it function well enough that you can go on vacation, get sick, or deal with family emergencies and not have to shut your doors or worry that things aren’t operating like they would if you were there. You need to make the business autonomous enough that it isn’t DEPENDENT on you. For someone like myself who is very exacting and particular with how I want things done and typically does them myself because of that, I realize that making the transition will not happen overnight and that it will take a concerted effort on my part to trust others and be patient with the process.

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]]> http://www.medirected.com/2009/11/working-in-or-working-on-your-business/feed/ 6 Reluctant Marketing http://www.medirected.com/2009/11/reluctant-marketing/ http://www.medirected.com/2009/11/reluctant-marketing/#comments Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:32:32 +0000 mike http://www.medirected.com/?p=396 As I’ve mentioned a couple times before in this blog I’m basically a do-it-myself startup. I have quite a few people around me who are very helpful (and I’m very grateful for their help!) but for the most part I’m like the Hedley’s from In Living Color. I am the accountant, travel agent, head coach, director of research, graphic designer, IT trouble shooter, marketer, secretary, janitor, facility serviceman, web designer, salesman, delivery man, and chief executive officer all rolled in to one. Many people who do freelance work find themselves in a similar position in that they wear many hats. Among the things that required the biggest adjustment for me in this setup was marketing. Because we don’t have a 10 million dollar training facility, a reality TV show, or a big time sneaker deal, the company brand is essentially me. My business partner (who is more of sales and marketing guy) stressed this from the very beginning of our relationship – “our brand is your professional expertise. That is what will distinguish us from competitors.” The reason this was difficult for me is because I’m not really self-promotional by nature. In fact, I disdain salesmen and the many posers in the athletic performance industry who are 90% flash and 10% substance. Some call these guys internet gurus because they look like geniuses on the net but have never actually coached anyone. But the reality is, that now that my family and I depend solely on the success of my business, and the business is essentially just me and the services I provide; it means that I NEED to do some marketing to pay the bills and keep food on the table. That’s one of the reasons why I have a very active twitter personna that compliments my business brand, why I have a youtube channel that highlights the athletes I’ve coached and some of the lectures I’ve given, and why I make sure I let the world know when and where I’m doing my next speaking engagement. This type of self-promotion isn’t something I’m totally comfortable with but it’s definitely easier when you look at yourself as the business being sold rather than the person you see in the mirror; and recognize that to get to the point where the brand is bigger than myself will require that I highlight what I have to offer and how my services are superior so that we can continue to grow long enough that we can shift the emphasis to the company.

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]]> http://www.medirected.com/2009/11/reluctant-marketing/feed/ 2 The Benefits of Diversifying Revenue Streams http://www.medirected.com/2009/09/the-benefits-of-diversifying-revenue-streams/ http://www.medirected.com/2009/09/the-benefits-of-diversifying-revenue-streams/#comments Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:36:09 +0000 mike http://www.medirected.com/?p=360 I’ve now been in NC for a little over 6 months and I’ve had Athletic Lab fully operational for about 7 weeks. Business at Athletic Lab has been modest but growing steadily. In an odd twist of fate, the very things I thought I’d be counting on as major profit centers are lagging behind expectations slightly. While this is obviously not ideal, the bright side is that my business has several fairly diversified profit centers. They can be categorized in to:

  1. Training athletes
    • On-site Training of Olympic Development Athletes at Athletic Lab
    • On-site Training of non-elite athletes at Athletic Lab
    • Off-site via correspondence
  2. Sport Science Services
    • Biomechanical Analyses
    • Managing High Performance Centers
    • Research Grants
    • Product Testing and Development
  3. Education
    • Lectures
    • Speaking engagements
  4. Merchandise sales
    • Training equipment sales
    • Book and DVD sales

      • After I resigned from my steady job and decided to manage my own business full time I laid out my business plan and where I figured my revenue would come from. On the list above I’ve highlighted highlighted the revenue streams that are beating early expectations (green), meeting early expectations (blue), and under performing relative to early expectations (red). I had actually figured that training weekend warriors, high school and collegiate athletes at Athletic Lab would make up the bulk of my revenue after the training center was opened. I likewise had no reason to expect a large uptick in revenue from our book and DVD sales from earlier in the year. Oddly, neither has been the case. I’ve got a growing training group but they’re pretty much all elite or emerging elite athletes. Current revenue from training non-elites has been practically non-existent. Obviously this isn’t where I wanted to be. But on the brighter side, revenue from training a small group of elite athletes, a big spike in book and DVD sales, some unexpected equipment sales (even prior to launching our ecommerce site we’ve gotten a steady stream of sales just via Craigslist, and hitting the road for quite a few speaking engagements has offset what would seem to be a big gaping hole. The point of the post is to say two things:

      1. You can never TRULY expect to accurately predict revenue from any given area when entering a small business venture.
      2. Having a handful of related but diversified streams of revenue can serve as a means of safe guarding your venture while allowing the slow-starters get off the ground.
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      ]]> http://www.medirected.com/2009/09/the-benefits-of-diversifying-revenue-streams/feed/ 2 The Move to our 1st Business Home…Part 1 http://www.medirected.com/2009/07/the-move-to-our-1st-business-home-part-1/ http://www.medirected.com/2009/07/the-move-to-our-1st-business-home-part-1/#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2009 07:30:25 +0000 mike http://www.medirected.com/?p=347 So 2 weeks ago my lease agreement was finally executed by all three necessary parties which meant it was only a matter of time before we’d be able to move my company in to our new business home. We were supposed to have already moved in on July 1 but the current tenant (the group we’re actually subleasing from) needed more time to vacate and didn’t have a hard date on when they’d be able to leave. That was good in that it reduces the initial cost of the first month (security + 1st month’s rent or in this case 1st month’s pro-rated rent) but bad in that I was getting desperate to move in because there was so much to do before we could even consider opening for business. Compounding that problem is that my business partner who still lives in SoCal had scheduled a trip out to the triangle to help me move in thinking that we’d already be in by this week. With his visit pending, and not wanting to waste his expense and the opportunity to have another helping hand, I spent the bulk of last week scrambling to ensure we would at least be able to move in on Saturday. This meant several meetings and making sure we had insurance that we didn’t know that would be required. Because of the special nature of the business, underwriting for this type of insurance can be a little difficult and more laborious. I started applying and filling out forms for several providers on Tuesday and didn’t get confirmation of a policy until 6:30 pm on Friday…just 5 minutes prior to my business partner arriving at RDU. If it hadn’t been for this saving grace, hail Mary policy, we wouldn’t have been given the keys to the property on Saturday and his trip out here would have been wasted. Thank God for the fact that our insurer was on the West Coast (and still finishing up the business day) otherwise I’m not sure what would have happened. Over the next couple posts I’ll try to cover a brief synopsis of what we did over the weekend and what my wife and I are doing now that he’s left to prepare for opening day.

      ]]>       http://www.medirected.com/2009/07/the-move-to-our-1st-business-home-part-1/feed/ 0       Money or Contentment http://www.medirected.com/2009/07/money-or-contentment/ http://www.medirected.com/2009/07/money-or-contentment/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:37:48 +0000 mike http://www.medirected.com/?p=343 About a year ago, at the onset of the biggest recession in 30 years, I left my secure job behind to run my own business. Since that time I’ve thrown a lot of my own money at my business development.

      More recently, my company ended a relationship with one of our biggest long-term (but pain in the ass) contract clients.

      Financially, both moves don’t make a heck of a lot of sense…especially when you put the second one in the context of the first. But you know what? I’m happier and more content than I have been in years. I have enjoyed not dealing with the stress and hassle of the aforementioned P.I.A. client. My business is growing and moving closer and closer to being what I want it to be. I’m spending more time with my family than I have in years. And I’m living in a place that I love and doing what I want to do.

      I’m not saying that money and contentment are mutually exclusive but they are certainly not as closely related as most would have you believe. I’m optimistically holding out hope that doing what I want to do, what I LOVE to do, what I’m good at, will eventually lead to financial security too. But if I never show up on a show with Robin Leech I’ll be just fine with it because I’ll have the things that are more important to me.

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      ]]>       http://www.medirected.com/2009/07/money-or-contentment/feed/ 0       Some tips for getting IT right http://www.medirected.com/2009/06/some-tips-for-getting-it-right/ http://www.medirected.com/2009/06/some-tips-for-getting-it-right/#comments Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:10:59 +0000 mike http://www.medirected.com/?p=339 Once a year for the past 7 years I have done a data capture for the research I do as the USA Track & Field biomechanist for the top shot putters in the country.The data capture takes place at the US National Championships / Olympic trials and is used for quantitative 3D motion analysis that is then given to the athletes and their coaches. The process of the data collection requires meticulous standards of setup be made to ensure that valid and quality data can be produced. Any number of slipups in setup or unexpected changes due to grumpy officials, getting moved by tv crews, etc can make the entire data collection completely worthless and unusable. This means significant grant money would go unused and athletes would not receive the scientifically sound research that they’ve come to receive for another year. And because the data collection can only occur at one time each year, requires meticulous adherence to proper research procedures, and involves a variety of unexpected unknowns there is a pretty decent chance that something like that could happen. Unlike research conducted in a lab there are no ‘do-overs.’ Basically, you’ve got one chance to get it right each year and if you don’t you’re screwed. If you ever find yourself in situations like this here are some tips I’ve found useful:

      • Plan ahead: Even though I’ve now done this data collection 14 times (7 years with separate collections for men and women) I’ve learned not to be complacent with the setup. Getting complacent or assuming you ‘have it mastered’ quickly leads to mistakes.
      • Use lists: All told, the data collection requires quite a bit of equipment (multiple cameras, tripods, batteries, extra batteries and recording media, calibration equipment, etc). Once the competition starts it’s impossible to leave the area until the competition is done and you’ve calibrated the 3D space. I use lists to ensure that I bring out everything that I need on to the field because it’s quite easy to forget something.
      • Be prepared for the unexpected: Every time I’ve done one of these data collections something unexpected happens. I can set up an hour early only to be moved by NBC cameras. Or I might have battery failures despite double checking their charges before leaving. I’ve even had complete camera failures while out on the field. All of these can quickly undue your planning and preparation if you allow them to get you flustered and are not at least prepared for the foreseeable issues.
      • Have at least double redundancy fail safes: As noted above, something will go wrong. It’s practically inevitable when you’re doing a task with such high quality standards. Knowing this, it’s important to make sure you are covering all possible contingencies. I often bring out 2 extra batteries, 3 extra tapes, an extra camera, a 100 foot extension cord to find external power if I absolutely need it, 2 pens in case one runs out while writing down performances, and a variety of other fail safes. This double redundancy fail safeing is something I learned when I was a Human Factors / Industrial Engineering minor for my PhD (before switching to Exercise Physiology).
      • Give yourself time:

        Normally I am the guy who arrives at the last minute and is pulling everything together right at the end. But with something where quality standards are high and opportunities to correct are practically non-existant I make sure I give myself extra time to be prepared.

      I know not too many people reading this are likely to be biomechanists and even fewer who work in field (as opposed to lab) settings but I think these general tips can be useful for a variety of situations. If you’ve got any tips that don’t fit in to what I’ve listed above please share it in the comments.

      ]]>       http://www.medirected.com/2009/06/some-tips-for-getting-it-right/feed/ 0       Full House http://www.medirected.com/2009/06/full-house/ http://www.medirected.com/2009/06/full-house/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:21:39 +0000 mike http://www.medirected.com/?p=337 Earlier in the week, we also had a lot of company over to the apartment: one former HPC intern and fellow OU alumni; one of the elite athletes from my track club and his fiancé coming to find an apartment for their upcoming move to the area; and one of the other members of the club who needed a place to stay the night before a mid-morning flight out to Eugene for the USATF National Championships. It was a lot of fun having a ‘full house’ and I’m excited to have a core group of athletes here to train and have around as company.

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      ]]>       http://www.medirected.com/2009/06/full-house/feed/ 0       Overloaded http://www.medirected.com/2009/06/overloaded/ http://www.medirected.com/2009/06/overloaded/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:43:30 +0000 mike http://www.medirected.com/?p=335 The last couple days I’ve been teaching at a USATF Coaches Education school and I’m exhausted. Day 1 had me teaching for 3.5 hours; Day 2 for 7 hours; and Day 3 for 3.5 hours. It worked out to 14 hours of speaking in a 44 hour period. Needless to say I’m sick of hearing myself speak and I’m sure that the students in the class are too. I’m tired physically and mentally and I feel like I need an extended vacation somewhere in a small island in the Caribbean. Though I won’t have that, I am going out to Eugene, OR for USATF National Championships tomorrow. I was supposed to leave today but that’s another story altogether. Unlike the previous 3 years, I’ll have a relatively minimal workload. The past 3 years I’ve had coaching duties for my athletes; doing the motion capture and spatial calibration necessary to fulfill my role as the biomechanist for the shot putters: and managing my company’s operations as the first 3rd party provider of immediate on-site feedback and video analysis services to the athletes. This year I’ll only have the first two to handle. No more 19-20 hour days and micro-managing a crew of 25 people to get an average of 3 camera views on every single event and turn around that video for analysis and distribution of the video to athletes within 60 minutes of the conclusion of the event. No more cataloging, meta-tagging, and backing up those files (600 gb of data last year!) in to the wee hours of the morning. 2 years ago it took me about a full month to recover from the week of running operations at the national championship meet. Due to last year’s lighter schedule (during Olympic years it changes) and the fact that we get more efficient with every job, things weren’t so bad but this year returns to the non-Olympic year format and I’m glad to not be handling that load again on top of dealing with organizing all our remaining equipment orders and ironing out the final steps of our property lease. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a little rest and hammer out the final details of our property lease while I’m there. The goal is to have all aspects of the remaining customs and shipping done by the time I return to NC, pick up whatever equipment that isn’t already in the Triangle from Wilmington, NC, and then start moving everything in to my two public storage rooms to the facility on July 1. I’m also hoping that the two athletes that compete for my club will do well and make the World Championship team. Knocking on wood.

      ]]>       http://www.medirected.com/2009/06/overloaded/feed/ 0       A Business Update http://www.medirected.com/2009/06/a-business-update/ http://www.medirected.com/2009/06/a-business-update/#comments Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:36:53 +0000 mike http://www.medirected.com/?p=324 Sorry it’s been a while. Infrequent blog posting on my part means that I’ve been overwhelmed with work. The good part is that it looks like things are all finally starting to fall in to place with HPC. I found a great facility that’s actually two to three times as large as I was originally looking for and it will accomodate sport science

      research, athlete training, offices, and storage of the training equipment and goods that I’ll be selling as a separate but related venture. Speaking of which, all our equipment is now within 100 miles of us and we just need to clear things with our customs broker and get everything from a port in Wilmington, NC to our storage in the triangle before we can move in to the training facility. We should be signing the lease any day now. I’ve been saying that for about 2 weeks but there were quite a few errors in the lease that needed changed and it’s held things up a little bit. In any case, I can finally see the end of having a homeless business and if all goes to plan we’ll be moving in on July 1. While dealing with customs brokers, shipping agents, property attorneys, and real estate agents I’ve also started taking on some clients. While I don’t have a facility, I’ve just been training at local high school tracks with the aim of generating some relationships that will allow me to ‘hit the ground running’ when we open our doors. I’ve also been doing a lot of web work lately. First, to bring my 2 main sites (ELITETRACK and HPC company site) closer to W3C validation standards; and 2nd to create the new ecommerce site where I’ll be selling DVDs, Books, and fitness and training equipment like squat stands, bumper plates, olympic bars, kettlebells, and glute-ham developer machines. The idea of this venture and the accompanying ecommerce site will not be to compete with the mega giants of the industry that seem to pride themselves on carrying every crapgadget and training gimmick under the sun; but instead, to provide super high quality versions of the products that are essential to well trained coaches and athletes…and provide them at unbeatable prices. Sorry for the rambling post but I wanted to give a quick update while I had a moment.

      ]]>       http://www.medirected.com/2009/06/a-business-update/feed/ 2       Too busy to blog http://www.medirected.com/2009/05/too-busy-to-blog/ http://www.medirected.com/2009/05/too-busy-to-blog/#comments Mon, 25 May 2009 12:15:11 +0000 mike http://www.medirected.com/?p=315 I’m actually writing this blog somewhere over the pacific (I’m posting it now I’ve arrived). I’m on my way to Beijing to give a biomechanics lecture at the Beijing Sports University on some of the research I’ve done. I figured that the 13.5 hour flight would give me a nice opportunity to catch up on the blogging that I’ve been neglecting for the past 10 days or so. As many readers know, I have this blog as well as my blog on ELITETRACK and my microblog on twitter. Of the three, my twitter account is really the only one that has seen any action over the past week or so. When things get really busy for me and I have to really crack down on prioritizing things, blogging and posting on the forums at ELITETRACK typically get cut out. With ELITETRACK I hate to do it because the site is my baby. I love learning from others on there and giving back. With this site though it actually becomes a little ironic. Ironic in that the times that I have the most to blog about I often have the least time to blog. The last couple days have been a bit of a whirlwind. After getting back from a 5 day trip to Baton Rouge for my graduation and a business related meeting, I had 4 days to catch up with life and prepare for another trip- first to Orlando for 2 days where I gave 8 hours of lectures in a 24 hour span; then from Orlando to Beijing for a week where I’m giving the presentation I mentioned previously and attending a short symposium. Between preparing for these speaking engagements, packing and unpacking my bags, continuing what’s seeming like a never-ending quest for a property for HPC and running the day to day operations of HPC

      I had to put many of the things that I love to do on the backburner. Even sleep got put on the back burner…because of early flight departure times and lecture times I was stuck with 3 consecutive nights at 4 hours of sleep…too little even for me. I’m hoping that this trip to Beijing can be rewarding for networking, business opportunities, and getting in a little R&R.

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