A day in the office – creating the right environment

Thank goodness for Starbucks and their T-Mobile WiFi service. Staying connected is a vital part of my professional life and I began writing this week’s ezine in my hotel room at The Bush in Farnham on Tuesday morning. My plan was to spend the whole morning on-line, writing ezine, blog and answering emails. Withing an hour of starting my spirits were beginning to decline and, on reflection, I realised that the hotel room was draining the enthusiasm out of me. Sat alone in a slightly tatty room, in a rather tired hotel, surrounded by grey people. So I packed my bag and pootled down Farnham high street to Starbies and, after buying a Tall Tazo Chai Latte (yum) I settled down for 4 blissful hours of laptop heaven – sad boy. It’s just great though – I can focus down for minutes at a time, thinking about what I’m going to write – and then surface for a few minutes and have a quick look around at who is passing by. People watching can be fun sometimes. So by 1.30pm my emails were cleared and my writing completed. After a telephone conversation with a dentist who wants some strategies on how to buy out a miserable partner, I met with Paul Nelson back at The Bush (which we tolerated) and created the “Mother of all Prospect Lists”, so as to see exactly what our new business is looking like over the months ahead:

1. Grade A prospects – people who will join in October

2. Grade B prospects – people who will join after October

3. Grade A activities – products and services that will generate cash flow in October

4. Grade B activities – products and services that will pay us later in the year.

List completed, my confidence in the next 3 months had grown by an order of magnitude. Paul and I enjoyed a pint and laugh – and then I was “Billy-no-mates” for the evening. A solitary Diavola pizza (yes – you’ve guessed – Pizza Express in Farnham) as I read my latest novel and a long soak in the bath before watching the second half of Manchester United v. Benfica on TV – 1-0 to the Reds – great end to a busy and productive day. Lights were out at 10.00pm.