For those of you who don’t know, my company is virtual.  This means we run a completely distributed team of people.  For a long time, this in and of itself presented a large challenge.  How do you keep people who work all around the country engaged?  How do you keep them on task, informed, and accountable.  In hindsight I think our challenges were placed in front of us because there were lessons that had to first be learned in order to earn the team we currently have.

For the first time in years, each one of our employees is critical to the business, engaged in their role, and passionate about what they do.  This didn’t come because we were lucky or stumbled onto it.  In the beginning we were just as passionate.  We had just as much hunger for growth.  We weren’t aligned though.  We didn’t know what the company was and how it could serve the masses.  We had to hone our tools and find a place in an industry where our talent could play.  Of course it ended up being in an industry that was mid-collapse and a genre that didn’t really exist.  From what I’ve read though, that couldn’t be a better scenario.

Lessons we learned along the way (and are still learning):

Be aligned with your mission:  Make sure everything you do can successfully pass through that filter.  If it doesn’t feel right, then it isn’t.  Let it go and keep the space for what does.

Love your people:  Take time to get to know them.  Learn what they love to do.  Figure out what ignites them.  Even if it’s completely unrelated to your industry, you’ll be surprised how it can wrap around the block and tap you on the shoulder.

Don’t be afraid to lead honestly:  When everyone understands what the business is going through it’s easier to invite them to join the fight.  Earlier this year we released our Profit and Loss statement from 2011 with a little narrative about the companies current state and our objectives for 2012.  We invited questions.  We have no secrets.  That does amazing things for breeding trust.

Have the tough conversations:  If something feels funky, have the conversation.  If that conversation is tough for you, try leaning on partner for support.  Chances are though, if the conversation feels scary, it probably needs to be had.  Tough conversations have led to letters or calls of resignation, but they’ve also allowed for bonds to strengthen.  Both scenarios were what was best for the company.

Engage:  Find a way to engage daily/weekly/quarterly.  For us it started with a quarterly retreat hosted by one of the team members.  We covered travel and food costs.  We talked shop, played games and just got to know one another.  The first one was sloppy because it wasn’t the right combination of people.  The second one was amazing.  This has grown to a private Facebook group for all our staff, permalancers, and freelancers.  We interact multiple times a day and it’s totally self-policing.  The quarterly retreats are slowly becoming a place to bring some of the outside staff in to play and get to know the company. The core team finds other ways to meet as often as it needs to band some heads together.

What were some of your lessons?

It started at 5AM last Tuesday.  My trip to Thetford, Vermont (to visit our client Carmen Tarleton) was one envied by many in the company.  So many people had heard her story and worked with her over the last 6 months and none had the opportunity to meet face to face.

This would be RTC’s first ever Cover Photo shoot.  We typically use a collection of graphics, images, and existing photos to make a cover, but Carmen’s story was different.  It was important to Carmen that her face, as it is today, be the focus of her cover.  My background is in Film/Television/Theater (in that order) and then I transitioned to film finance and eventually landed in the documentary production world.  I am no stranger to documenting someones life, especially tough and emotional stories.  However, I admittedly had some nerves on the 2.5 hour drive from Boston to Thetford. This was a BIG story and the pressure was on.

Since we were going to be shooting photos, it was a no-brainer to capture video as well.  Get me that close to a camera and NOT shoot video?  C’mon.  That’s like asking me not to eat bacon.

We got to Thetford in the early afternoon and were greeted by Carmen enjoying an afternoon ice cream cone.

(Excuse the fuzzy focus, but Ben was trying to meet Carmen and record at the same time.)

We spent the rest of that first day getting to know each other while shooting video and photos the whole time.  We set up a few pre-conceived shots which proved to be very helpful.  

It allowed us time to distill what we were going after.  Those shots from the first day, which likely won’t be used in her book, allowed us to build a closer bond with Carmen and find our way towards to that perfect picture.

We called it an early day because Carmen wears out easily, but we were excited to get started first thing the next morning.  Before we left though we were lucky enough to meet Carmen’s youngest daughter Hannah.  I’m not sure if I was reading into things, but there seemed to be an immediate sense of comfort between Hannah and these new house guests.  Her life path coupled with the fact that we were there to help her Mom navigate her journey seemed to allow for some of the normal barriers to be left at the door.

That evening Ben and I went into Hanover, had some dinner, and discussed the following day’s shoot.  I’d be lying if we didn’t also talk tech, gadgets, and gear.

The next morning after stopping for some coffee at the local Dirt Cowboy Cafe we arrived at Carmens excited to implement our newest production ideas.  

Ben quickly got to work setting up our shots and getting everything just right…

After we fully took advantage of the morning light we moved inside for the interview portion of the trip.  We started off with questions about the RTC process and how Carmen came to find us (which is a fun little story in itself, but you’ll have to wait for the edited video!).  We then moved into detailed questions about her story, her journey, and where she is headed with this new life ahead of her.

By this point it was lunch time and we were all famished.  Carmen took us to her favorite little diner in Thetford where she insisted on treating us to lunch.  I had a tuna fish salad sandwich on wheat with old school ruffles potato chips.  It reminded me of lunch at Nanu’s (my grandma).

We had to depart right after dropping Carmen off from lunch.  The ride back into Boston was spent pondering about the future.  After spending two days with Carmen and seeing the world as she lived it, one couldn’t help but re-evaluate.  I can honestly say that this trip brought me closer to Carmen the person.  I am more invested in her journey and helping her reach her highest purpose.  I suppose running a business with a distributed team might magnify the effects, but it’s trips like these that drive home how important face time with our people is.  I know it will bring value to Carmen, her story, and our team.

Until our next adventure….

David C. Cohen

VP

Check out Corey Michael Blake’s predictions for 2012 at Corey’s new website!

So you fashion yourself a thought leader and you’ve been thinking of writing a book for years. You might even have pages and pages of writing and yet something impedes your progress. Maybe it’s the thought of a blank screen that intimidates you. Maybe you simply don’t consider yourself a writer. Maybe you just don’t have the time. But what you do have is the passion to share your wisdom. So where do you find a writer who can capture your voice and essence and bring your book to life?

Get Educated

Talk with multiple writers and writing companies to get a sense of what is available to you. Pay close attention to how they market themselves; how detail-oriented they are in their marketing is typically a direct reflection of how well they are defined as a writer/professional. Look to be inspired by their work and their references.

Your Contract

Keep your contract short and sweet and allow for either party to terminate the relationship if desired (this creates accountability on both ends of the partnership). If your contract is a work for hire, it should also specify that you own all the materials created on your behalf, from recordings and transcriptions to drafts.

You Know You Have a Winning Relationship if…

Your writer hits their deadlines each and every time. You’re inspired by their momentum. You always know what your writer is working on.

Tricks to a Great Process

Nurture yourself throughout the writing. Talk about the emotions you’re feeling while creating. Embrace your vulnerability. Treat your relationship with your writer or writing team as a marriage. Be open, be honest, be committed. Do the work. Stay involved. When the going gets tough, it will be easy to make excuses that slow down the creative process. Try your best to keep the momentum alive. Momentum is the key to higher quality and breakthrough moments. Keep a journal by your side throughout the process. If the momentum is kept up, epiphanies will strike you in the oddest places and at the strangest times. Capture them and bring them back to your writer or team to include.

Find Inspiration

While you’re writer or team are working, go live your life. Grow your business and spend time with your family. Read great books and blogs, listen to great speeches. Cultivate an environment of inspiration around yourself. Be patient with yourself and your work. When a piece of writing captures your essence, take time to celebrate.

Dive Deeper

Be courageous. When a piece of writing is upsetting you, that’s the world telling you to dive deeper, to investigate more fully, to find the lesson you have yet to unfold. Stay conscious to the process. Do NOT take sleep medication throughout this process. Dream. Dream of how the reader will experience your writing. Envision what the reader will do with what you’re sharing. Work hard for their sake, not yours.

Remain Accountable to Yourself

Tell everyone that you’re writing, but don’t show them the work in progress. Most work in progress confuses people, because it still contains the roadblocks. So protect the work, but enlist their support and ask them to hold you accountable to your dream. Accept responsibility. No one else can share your story. Commit to your reader.

In Summary

In this day and age, with so much clutter in the world and on the Internet, it is your truth that will break through and move people. Your truth in business and your truth in life. Readers don’t just want your information, they want a personal and intimate look into what guided you to your wisdom. All you have to do is find the right partner(s) to guide you to your brilliance, commit to doing the work, and then… jump.

The stock market has been volatile for years and interest rates on savings accounts are pitiful. So why, as a culture, are we still so hesitant to invest in ourselves where the return is significant?

Over the last five years, I’ve spoken to between ten and twenty people every week who consider themselves thought leaders and have been dreaming of writing a book for years, but lack either the necessary skill or the time to do so. Prior to that I spent five years making films in LA and coaching artists of all kinds on how to best spend their money and time to move the needle forward in the career of their self expression. The five years prior to that were spent doing the same for myself as I navigated Hollywood and a successful acting career on TV. Turns out that in addition to a storyteller, I’m a researcher. I’ve amassed mountains of anecdotal data through my experience working with people’s stories.

This morning, as I was watching a riveting TED talk by Researcher/Storyteller Brene Brown, I realized the amount of insight I have gained from my experiences in both speaking with those interested in writing a book or a movie about their life or their wisdom, and in working in depth with those who chose to walk down that path.

Turns out there is a profound difference between those who think about walking the path and those who do.  And that ingredient, as it was so brilliantly highlighted in Brown’s TED talk, is worthiness.

Those who question their worthiness, find the most amazing ways to redirect our conversations.

• How much time is this going to take? I’m very busy.
• That’s a steep price tag, what’s the ROI?
• How many best sellers have you had?
• I absolutely want to head down this road… (followed by silence).

I learned the value of self investment in my early twenties as an actor.  I needed certain tools to find work: headshots, resumes, audition clothes, union fees, gas for the car, etc. My third year in LA when I finally joined the union I had my first 30k+ year from acting after investing $3 – $4k in the right tools for the job. Those were simply the rules of the business. You have to invest in yourself to be seen.

Later as an entrepreneur, I took that lesson and reinvested all our profits in Round Table for five straight years. Not every investment showed a return, in fact many of them failed if viewed from a purely financial perspective; however, view them from the perspective of the journey, and each of those investments led myself and my team to a greater understanding of our strengths and weaknesses. That clarity has immense value.

Now, as the company has grown, our self investment has catapulted to six figure levels and I can say without hesitation that I’ve never questioned the value of the transformational journey. In fact, I find that if I’m not on one, I get bored and eventually feel forced to seek the next adventure. What I do is ask myself the following four questions before I make my investment:

1. Is the team I’m paying to lead me to this next level of self-actualization capable of creating the environment I’ll need to be successful (i.e., are they talented, professional, kind, honest, and communicative)?
2. Will I be inserting myself into an uncomfortable experience that will force me to grow?
3. Does this opportunity scare the shit out of me while also exciting me?

If I answer yes to the above three questions, I’m ready for the big one:

1. Am I willing to take all the blame if I don’t achieve my goal with this investment?

This last question is so imperative. I NEVER make an investment and expect the party leading me to deliver my transformation. I have to earn it. I have to be an active participant in my own change. And if it isn’t working, I have to be willing to stop the process, step into the light and expose the problem so it can be solved or the project redirected.

And that brings us back to worthiness. Once I have vetted the team and see the potential of the investment, I have to look inward and ask the ultimate question: am I worthy? Who will I be on the other side of this journey and is that growth worthy of the investment of my time and my money? Is it more valuable to invest in this present experience and my own transformation, vs. the 1% interest I can earn in a savings account or the gamblers luck I would be subjected to in the stock market?

Funny thing is, that even in the booming years of the stock market, I always pulled out money to invest in my next great adventure. It’s the adventure that fuels me.  The knowledge that tons of accumulated experience has created little nuggets of wisdom I can claim as my own. The wisdom holds the value. Want your ROI? Look to the wisdom and ask yourself: Am I worthy?