OK, so the week is beginning (Yes, it’s Sunday, but as a start-up, weekend work is the norm). So I figured that mixing this up a little bit would be fun, so here are my top five ways to jump start my week.

1. Exercise: Begin the week with a long bike ride or a thorough work-out. It airs out the mind, clearing it of clutter, background noise and other garbage. This provides focus for the coming effort.
2. Meditation: Yes, this is something I engage in regularly. Whether it is reading some thought provoking literature, using stream of conciousness writings, or just sitting quietly for a half hour, this, too, clears the mind, preparing it for the trials ahead.
3. Plan a break: This acknowledges the human aspect of life. You can’t go on in a relentless push. This week bowling is on the agenda, mid-week.
4. Incentives. Again, recognizing the human element. I’m thinking that my goal of garnering an account with reoccurring revenue will result in…. a weekend away with my wife. Perhaps Montreal? This goal is big, and may not be achieved this week, but it is certainly on the map and something to strive for.
5. Commitment: Commit to seeing it through, and do my very best one press call at a time, one word at time, one meeting at a time. It’s not enough to just show up. I must give my best.

If you want to see a good movie, check out Miami Vice. An unusually dark art house approach to this often laughed at TV series, the movie was pretty good. We also saw Love’s Labor Lost at the Shakespeare this weekend. Certainly enjoyable, though I am not sure if all the modernization efforts worked for me.

OK, here are this week’s quotes for you:

“The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating — in work, in play, in love.â€?
Anne Morriss

“A man’s word and his intestinal fortitude are two of the most honorable virtues known to mankind.â€?
Jim Nantz

“Anyone can dabble, but once you’ve made that commitment, your blood has that particular thing in it, and it’s very hard for people to stop you.â€?
Bill Cosby

One of the things I am working on is preparing for more work. The what if scenario looms over me currently, so its important to be prepared for the short-term hit as well as begin the long-term build-out plan.

Yesterday, I met with a 1099 PR counselor, one I know from my previous days at Widmeyer. She is a major league hitter. We’re going to give it a go on a product launch that I am going to be executing this August and September. I am confident she will be excellent if I win one of the large retainer prospects I am looking at.

For the long-term, the thing to do is find a strategic partner who can help build this business. This may or may not be someone as senior as me, but definitely someone who brings something to the table. A key component will be fulfillment.

It’s a big day for media training. Looking forward to it. After that I have a white paper to work on, as well as some serious positioning activity on a brand project, and some PR and advertising work. The beat goes on!

Key right now is staying positive and focused on the big picture. My attitude is still suffering a little from the past month, so I am actively working on addressing this by trying to build in fun, work-outs, and am even going to the Shakespeare Theatre this weekend with my wife and elderly grandmother who just moved into town.

Also, I should be able to move back into my home office within the next two weeks. That will be good, though Preferred Offices has a great facility here in Alexandria. I would like to use them once I get that first large reoccurring revenue account in.

Looks like the pro bono publicity conducted on behalf of my neighbors for the Huntington Floods worked out. I received a letter from Virginia Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer indicating that Governor Kaine has ausked VDoT and the Woodrow Wilson bridge project conduct an investigation on the project’s impact on the flood, and report the results to an independent panel for review. Copies will be made available to the public.

In addition, the media have picked up on the story and also believe the cause of the flood was man-made. Check out today’s Washington Post story.

My Board meeting was outstanding. I got some great feedback from them, and some interesting direction to partake in the next couple of months. From partnership to marketing focus, from resolving some eisting issues to suggested vendors, this was a great meeting for me, and I am very grateful to have these folks in my life.

Now all I have to do is listen and execute. It’s one thing to hear things, it’s another to listen and actually do it.

An interesting deal is brewing in a blogging sort of way. It involves generating advertising revenue for a popular portal. My buddy WineSmith will be working with me on this, and it should be a great opportunity. Meeting on Tuesday evening to discuss.

BTW, WineSmith brought to my attention a great Pew study on the blogging community. We’re growing quickly, and becoming an increasingly larger part of the Internet world.

This week’s quotes are on listening, and yes ladies and gentlemen, there is a Listening Association, which lists these quotes.

“The contrast between hearing and really listening can be as different as night and day. And in a business environment, not listening effectively to customers, employees, and peers can mean the difference between success and failure.� — Ken Johnson

“We listen in order to learn and retain information. If we are speaking, we are not listening or learning anything to add to our sum of knowledge. This is why the first step to effective listening is to stop talking!� — Ken Fracaro

“Listening well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well.� — John Marshall

The brand report is in, woo hoo. Now on to media training and white papers. Yeah!

The big pitch went well, in fact I am writing now because I was so pumped up for the past couple of days that I can’t sleep. Unfortunately, I found out the hardest competitor in the market is up for this deal, too. This company is extremely difficult to compete against, but I’m up for the tennis match. Brainstorming follow-up ideas right now.

Kudos to personal friend Mark Amtower for a sweet placement in Entrepreneur magazine. Mark’s done a great job branding himself as the go-to B2G guy over the past couple of years.

I’ve got four major deals up in the air right now, and it is an interesting time to be weighing them. In many ways this calls for a unique blend of patience, value demonstration to the prospects, and persistence. There will be at least one if not two who see that I can be of service to them.

Here’s a nice little quote to ponder on this topic: “Patience cautions us to focus our efforts on what we can change while accepting what we cannot. When external circumstance rains on our parade, patience is our umbrella. Rather than blaming what we cannot control, patience is the wisdom behind persistence.� – Denis Waitley’s eZine, Issue #65, June 19, 2006

I had three very interesting conversations today. One was a one of these wolves in sheep’s clothing trying to “help me.” Sigh. Ever try to rationalize with one of these? Believe me, don’t waste your time. They think they’re totally justified, and you can’t really point at anyone when you find yourself suffering as a result of interacting with these folks. It’s the price of keeping company with thieves, so to speak.

The best part of owning your own company is opting out of relationships like this. No thank you! But really, there is no excuse for allowing folks like this in one’s life in any form at all, owning a company, personally, as an employee, or even family. You just can’t change these people, and their karma inevitably spreads to you. A hard lesson already learned by me.

The other conversations were with folks that I want to work with or would like as a client, but for whatever reason gave up on those relationships. They are both back on the board.

OK, it’s almost 1 a.m. Wear off pitch energy, wear off…

I feel like I’m back in the zone. Things are moving, working hard again, with new business opportunities tracking, and good work being developed. The brand report is evolving nicely, and hopefully the client will agree with the quality of work and messaging, too. Tuesday is deliverable day… Yes, locked in once more.

In reflection, it really annoys me that I had to ratchet things back and curb my momentum. Granted a natural disaster occurred, literally, and my attention was definitely needed elsewhere (and to be honest it was and still is pretty depressing). However, I was fortunate that my workload was only 50 percent AND that it happened during the Fourth of July. Even the summer to recover is helpful.

Listening to Musashi’s Book of Five Rings today in the car (currently in the Water book), I am reminded how important consistency is to my effort. It’s critical to provide a strong effort everyday, ready for all situations, no matter how good or bad it gets, how tired or rested I am, whether it’s a holiday or not.

Wikopedia defines consistency as “the property of holding together and retaining it’s shape.â€? Back to the Water book, a consistent total effort balanced with a calm, unshakable approach to every day creates opportunity for success.

Now, after listening to the Five Rings, I realize that what really bugs me about the flood recovery period was that I could not dedicate myself to the start-up the way I’d like to, in a consistent, totally committed way (yes, I know it was a natural disaster).

Don’t get me wrong… rigid consistency is the stuff of fools: Flexibility to events, situations and errors is just common sense. To be consistent in answer and thought is to become predictable, and eventually means that you will be surpassed by those that continue to change. The point of a consistent hard effort it that in anything – whether it be career, art, hobby, sport, even parenting – if you are leaving it all out there everyday, there are no regrets… only successes and lessons.

To be honest, I don’t think anything else could have knocked me off course with the exception of a close death or, yes, this natural disaster. In the end, some things are fated, but that was yesterday. Today, it’s back to the rhythm of consistently hard, all-out effort.

Here are some quotes for you to start the week:

“Part of courage is simple consistency.�
- Peggy Noonan

“My theory is to strive for consistency, not to worry about the numbers. If you dwell on statistics you get shortsighted, if you aim for consistency, the numbers will be there at the end.�
-Tom Seaver

“In everyday life you should be determined though calm… Even when your spirit is calm do not let your body relax, and when your body is relaxed do not let your spirit slacken.�
- Musashi