Peer Power Blog

I managed to lose my Treo this past week while in Raleigh. No idea how, but it slipped out of my sweats during my morning walk and it was nowhere to be found. So Nancy and I went to the local Verizon store to get a replacement. Good news was that I was due for an upgrade. Better news is that with the push technology from Exchange I don’t have to worry about contacts and phone numbers being lost – they just get pushed down again. One of the amazing things to me is that no matter what city I am in, what cellular store I enter, they are always busy. There is always a line usually full of people with no idea of what they want and not nearly enough help to get it done. That was true in Ral... Continue reading

Today I am on the way to Las Vegas for the beginning of partner conference week. Sonicwall's conference begins today, and HP's starts tomorrow. Why they can't communicate enough to make sure they don't overlap is beyond me. But at least they are in the same town and I will catch pieces of both. I find these events very valuable - not because of the content so much - but because of the people. It is the single best place to gain access to key executives and the best of their partner base. There is no other place I know to visit with the cream of the crop for these vendors. They don't invite every partner, they invite those who are engaged and performing. So I love being able to networ... Continue reading

Yesterday we wrapped up our HTG3 meeting here in Raleigh at the Microsoft offices. It was a great couple days of sharing life and business together. We traded great ideas, cool technology hints, little known secrets of the web - but most of all we spend a couple days living life together. One of our agenda items this meeting was some "thank you time" where the folks could express gratitude to others in the group for impact that had been made on them and their businesses over the last three years of meeting together. We don't do that nearly enough. Not in our business life, and certainly not in our personal lives.None of us becomes successful on our own. We are helped by mentors, vendor... Continue reading

We had a great day yesterday in our HTG peer meeting sharing about business and life. One thing keeps coming up over and over the more time I spend with partners - the frustration of trying to work with vendors. I had numerous conversations with partners yesterday and most every day for that matter, about how they struggle to be connected to the vendors their very business depends on for success. It is a strange phenomenon. Vendors are very dependent upon us as partners to sell and support their products for success as well. So it really is a situation where both parties need the other to succeed. But somehow there are so many breakdowns in that relationship it just seems to be a mess ... Continue reading

This morning we begin our HTG3 meeting hosted by Worksmart in Raleigh. This is our first meeting of 2008 for the group, and I am excited to see what the planning looks like for 2008. Their business plans are due today, and this begins the accountability for the year ahead. Is your plan done? Have you put it on paper? We need to have things documented and more importantly shared with others that will hold us accountable and inspect what we do. We perform better when someone inspects us. It is a true fact. Who is your inspection parter? Who holds you accountable? Without that you are likely to grow much more slowly and be much more of a lifestyle than growth partner. Do you want to ... Continue reading