Over the course of 2 days focused on Collaboration, we shared a lot, and particularly emphasized 'how-to' steps. But truth be told, I'm an even bigger fan of some of the more intangible lessons. Because if the inner work isn't done, your business-building foundation hasn't yet 'set' properly - and no amount of 'what to do' will help.

So here are the lessons I ***most*** hope we taught at the Power of Collaboration SuperConference. For those who attended...which one(s) hit closest to home?

(1) Have separate lists for practical to dos and juicy ideas.

This can't be overemphasized, simple as it may seem. As an entrepreneur, you are by nature, a creative force to be reckoned with.

And if you don't follow this advice, sooner or later you will have to reckon with yourself. That is, you will start to suffer (burn out, get resentful, piss off your loved ones, or just freeze in complete overwhelm) under the weight of all your great ideas.

Solution: Be crystal clear. Ideas are great! You don't want to turn off that natural, boundless energy. Just put them in their place. And judiciously and conscientiously select from your idea bucket to feed your active 'to do' list.

(2) When you're thinking about exactly what to say to a potential collaborator to get that magic 'yes,' less is more. In fact, less is so much more than more, it's ridiculous.

When you are building a relationship with a new person, whether it's in your personal life or more specifically in the form of new joint venture partnerships for your business...go easy.

Like the character in the movie 'American Pie,' it's not hard to slip into verbal diarrhea and give way too much information. ("And this one time, at band camp...") Instead, dial it down. Think in terms of providing just enough information to get a response like this: "Okay, you have me intrigued, go on."

The most successful joint venture proposals I've made have always been super, super light. "What would you think of XYZ? It'd require an hour of your time and you'd reap the benefits for an indefinite amount of time. I'd do the rest of the work." Notice how a lot of details are actually missing here. But the key things are present. The major benefit and the amount of investment on the part of your potential partner.

In fact, the very lightness of your proposal bodes well for you in the eyes of the proposee (word?) Too much information doesn't get you anywhere. In fact, it can hurt you. That's why, I say again, "Less is more. Less so much more than more, it's ridiculous."

(3) In the very best of collaborations, every party should come away thinking they got the best part of the deal.
My Co-Presenter Milana Leshinsky brought this point home so very elegantly. Although scientifically speaking, it may be impossible for everyone to feel like they got the long end of the stick, in a very real way, it can be done.

For example, in the partnership Milana, Michael Port and I formed to create the Collaboration Conference, we each got very different, valuable things.

(4) You have to be able to talk about the money.

The segments on money at the Conference were among the *most* talked about. The most extended (due to lots of questions from attendees). And the most inquired about after the conference - "I like the formula Andrea, but what do I do when..."

Although the ferocity of the response surprised me at first, it makes sense. If you can't talk about the money part of joint ventures, they won't work. You can propose a (brief) wonderful idea, and the partner might bite, but you have to be able to clear-headedly know how to navigate the 'how do we split the money' conversation.

If you can't, I'd suggest you don't try to joint venture until you can. Once you can, it's a huge relief and frees up a whole lot of energy. The nice thing is, once you know the formula (and the exceptions), talking about the money can be easy. So make sure you think about the money conversation, sooner rather than later.

(5) In our world of access to intimacy, even with strangers, being inconsiderate is inexcusable.

My other Co-Presenter Michael Port gave a great example of this. After months of preparation for the launch of his new book, he and his team had achieved the mountaintop. The launch was a phenomenal success.

So what did someone - basically a stranger - do the day after the big launch? They wrote a lengthy email to Michael proposing a big project. Now when I say lengthy, I mean lengthy - I saw the email on Michael's phone - dense paragraphs of text, etc.

Michael said a few things about this at the event, but here's what I can add. If you want to build a relationship with me and perhaps create something together that supports both of our businesses - don't give me something heavy to lift the day after I've completed something big. It's inconsiderate.

Solution? Relate. Relate to your potential partners as real people with real lives. Look for opportunities to build real relationships. How about a congratulations note to Michael, plain and simple? Read blogs, newsletters and the acknowledgements section of boks. Listen to podcasts, attend free calls. Enter the stream of conversation that's going on, and *then* decide how to approach the person.

Remember, the best, most profitable and most meaningful joint ventures occur when two or more businesses on their chosen course, intersect, like two streets crossing each other. The intersection is where the cool stuff happens - all parties benefit.

Don't try to go through an intersection if it's closed for the moment doing repairs or opening up a few extra lanes.

(6) Receiving is still the biggest obstacle to most business owner's success, bar none.

In a certain sense, the agenda of the event was designed to maximize the element of 'receiving.' Some people felt there could have been even more, and I agree.

That said...there was still a goodly number of participants who subconsciously, for the most part, were saying 'no' to the help that was seeking them. I've said so much about this lately, I'll leave it at this:

How are you saying no to help in your business, today?

Just don't let the brevity of this point make you think it's less important, it's not.

(7) You can have it all. Whatever 'all' - in your definition - looks like.

Whether it's Michael's example of a new and gorgeous home, sizzling New York City friendships, 16-month old Jake, and a fully-engaged team of Vice-Presidents in the business...

Or Milana's life with 2 grade-school children, over 17 product lines built with as many partners, and a significant six-figure business on a seriously part-time income...all starting from scratch as a young woman from the Ukraine...

Your definition of 'all' is possible...through collaboration. But why is this on a list of lessons I (most) hope we taught at the conference?

Because I hope we brought home this one small distinction - you get to choose exactly what it all looks like, there is no 'one right way.' For better or worse, you have to (get to) stand up in leadership on this one.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be broadcast live to six countries simultaneously over the Internet?

Do your body particles begin to split or sprinkle like the scenes in TV's Star Trek...beam me over to Italy to deliver this piece of the agenda, won't you, Scotty?

Well no, I've lived to tell the tale and it's not quite as out-of-body as that. And it was definitely an eye-opener.

What should you do if you're thinking of webcasting via Internet, yourself, at your next big shindig? Here are a few things to chew on, based on the real-life experiment held on May 11 and 12 when Milana Leshinsky, Michael Port and I held the 'Power of Collaboration' SuperConference to a live audience in New York City.

We send our special thanks to the early-adopting souls who demonstrated their determination to learn the ins and outs of Collaboration even if they couldn't be with us in person, AND of course to our intrepid production manager Joe Taylor Jr. who made it possible.

"Day 2 was also great. This was one of the best conferences that I have been involved with. The presenters were great and the material is practical. I can only imagine the energy at the conference. I could feel some of it even through the webcast."

Thanks again, Cindy Streekstra

(1) First, it is an actual rush to know that you're broadcasting live, so be prepared for it to tap into your energy: you'll feel it physically at the end of the day. And the greater the reach of your broadcast - in our case to business owners in Italy, Ireland, the UK, Australia, Canada and all over the US - the more rewarding it is.

If like me, you believe that everything is energy you'll know what I mean when I say 'remember with webcasting you will need more than you'll usual amount of energy in reserve.'

Ineresting tidbit: since the event, we've discovered there were at least 2 participants who for physical reasons would not have been able to attend the SuperConference live - even if it had been next door. Remember this when you are marketing the webcast portion of the event.

(2) On that topic of marketing, were I to do this again, I would design two marketing schedules - one for the live event and one for the webcast. There are enough different benefits and enough messages to convey for each, that two campaigns are warranted, with a timetable that's thought through and makes sense.

The details of how to best do this would warrant some significant thought, as the debate about it can get quite heated: On one hand, if you market the webcast too hard, do you risk 'losing' live participants? On the other, isn't it about the best solution for the attendee?

Even if they lived down the street from the Jewish Community Center in New York, if they understood they would be missing the personal interaction by attending remotely - I believe I would much rather they remained ensconced in their PJs with PB&J at hand, so they could unabashedly get up to their elbows in the conference materials - and maybe even implement them right then and there.

Side note: This is different from when you are marketing a live teleseminar and part of your marketing says 'if-you-can't-attend-you-also-can-get-the-recording.' There just isn't as much of a difference when it comes to phone stuff.

(3) Even though it's a pretty big deal and it would be easy to get a tad flustered, it's important that the environment is set up so the presenters can remain centered. I found it very tempting to split my attention and try to go 101% for the webcasters, and 101% for the people in front of us.

For this reason, the next time we deliver a webcast event, I'd hire a separate Event Manager specifically for the virtual folk. Their job? To make what's broadcasting via webcast *even better* than the live experience, because the opportunity to do that exists.

You know what I meant. Think about it...

Are you like me, and chose not to go see Pavarotti in his Farewell Tour this year because you know the DVD will be so much better, with all the talented cameramen cutting in and out?

Sure, there's the rush of being there, and of course if you do go you can say you did. (No one ever says 'I was there when the DVD came out 10 years later, no matter who is doing the farewell.')

So when you're producing a live event via webcast, recognize you've already done the hard part - found a venue and secured technology to make the webcast possible. Given that, find someone to speak 'Ryan-Seacrest-like' directly to the webcast audience in a manner specific to their situation. The presenters who are managing the energy of the live participants are not the right people to do this - if you try, you run a very high risk of shortchanging both groups.

I know, Ryan seems to do a pretty good job, but he's not teaching 'Exactly How to Pitch A Collaboration Partner' or the '7 Rules for Remarkable Projects' or coaching in hot-seat formation on the fly. No offense, Ryan. So yes, I'd recruit an Associate Presenter, a partner Coach/Facilitator or even an apprentice-in-training to do this piece next time.

(4) Something else unexpected was we had some fantastic responses to the webcast that we learned mightily from. I mean, even more so than some of the live feedback, believe it or not. We discovered that webcast participant-types, like most early-adopters of technology, are innovators, and generous with their own creativity? Check out Kris' note below, and if you aren't already in the habit of speedily and unreservedly implementing what you learn from your biz's feedback, set this up now.

Hi Andrea,

You rock, Kris Carey www.lifestylecatalysts.com

Needless to say, we're glad Kris and compadres got so much out of the SuperConference. Even more so though, we're grateful to her for showing us how we can raise the grain on the webcast experience for next year.

Perhaps we'll coordinate large-scale venues in more than one city where the webcast is projected onto a large screen. Or at the very least, follow Kris' leadership and encourage people to congregate the way they did in lovely San Fran. Fun stuff.

(5) This goes hand-in-hand with #3. Surprisingly despite several invitations, for the most part, the webcast participants did not submit questions. With a good technical team in place, you can set it up so that questions can be submit in real-time to the main venue, and a designated person can ask them. Kinda like at Sotheby's where (I'm told) a wealthy art afficionado can phone in his bid at the biggest auction of the year.

This is what we did. I for one was pretty excited to have this happen. I dunno, it taps into my sense of 'how cool was that show Donahue, when it first came out, the way he interacted with the audience and a voice on the phone in the overhead speakers, etc.'

But, we got just one question over the entire 2 days: A huge hand-written note 'We want to see KERRI and ERICKA!'

Ericka and Kerri were being featured in a segment about the difference between a Virtual Assistant who just does what they're told and an Online Business Manager or Online Publications Manager who has an honest-to-goodness attitude of 'There is no problem that can't be solved or worked around.' Priceless stuff, when it comes to growing your biz over the $250,000 mark.

These two lovely ladies are an integral part of the team and even though they are both super camera-shy, we did manage to get a photo in the end (at left.)

But I digress. What I would do next time is assign the eliciting of questions to the Webcast-focussed Production Manager, or, try something like a one-hour Q&A session with a deputy, et al, after each day's agenda was covered. A little extra oomph to get through the remote-ness of the webcast folk would do the trick, I believe, and reap a lot of rewards when it comes to improving the webcast experience.

Heck, I'll stop right here and say I'd drop everything and tap into the wisdom of my co-presenter Milana Leshinsky, who has developed an arsenal of wisdom about how to engage people from afar, through her TeleSummit model which she revealed in great detail in the agenda - thanks for all the notes Milana! :-)

(6) Bonus 'Thing' I learned about webcasting. There's both an art and a science. The science part is what turns many people off the idea in the first place. Solution? Hire a professional. In our case, Joe Taylor was speedy, economical and provided beyond-the-call-of-duty quality product. The camera work in our webcast is top-notch and makes viewing and reviewing a pleasure.

As for the art part? You know how they say the 'camera puts 10 pounds on you?' Well, they told me - and I trust them - that having 3 cameras on us didn't equal to 30 extra pounds, but I still have to figure out how to make it so they always get my best 'side.' ;-)

(7) Bonus 'thing' number 2. It doesn't matter if you're webcasting or playing only to a live audience - after 5 years of doing live events large and small in multiple countries, here is my big 'thing' - make sure you have great, great, content.

You don't have to have a million year's worth, but make sure you're willing to go deep, and live in the moment - there are parts of the Power of Collaboration Conference that went completely off-script - and they ended up being some of the most advanced material I personally have ever presented. Besides, I just get annoyed at watered-down content, don't you?

If Michael, Milana and I didn't 'live' our business lives the way we do - in the moment with clients digging deep into their business-building issues and overcoming speed bumps every day - we could not have responded with case-studies and tested how-to steps the way we did when put on the spot. And put on the spot we were.

(30+30+30+10=100, anyone? Inside joke to attendees as this small segment on 'How to Share the Money: A Formula' ended up taking triple the amount of time originally alloted - what a delight!)

So I guess the last major thing I learned was even though the live event feels like the 'pinnacle' - how it goes depends on how you walk the talk on a day-to-day basis.

Until next year, when we'll be announcing our annual conference, you can watch the online video of the Power of Collaboration Conference in its entirely (or in segments, whatever is most useful to you) for just $197 - a one-time fee that includes the 98-page Participant Workbook, a full set of PowerPoint Slides, and online video that you can watch as many times as you like. Click here and hop to! Http://www.PowerofCollaboration.com

Speaking in Orlando for the Attention Deficit Disorder Association Conference, I took full advantage of two major things.

One being stepping out of my suite at the Wyndham Resort to smell the must-be-at-least-50-years-and-thriving Gardenia bush at the bottom of the path.

Living in Calgary, I often linger longingly at greenhouses in the gardenia section - and resist bringing one home, again. It's tantamount to murder, I figure, it being dry as a bone and cold, 7 months out of the year in Calgary, to pretend we can keep a gardenia well on a part-time schedule. Hubby and I along with our two dogs don't huddle around our fireplace each night for nothing you know!

So needless to say it was a rare treat to be greeted by a fully-open red hibiscus before checking in, and wow...gardenia on the moonlit air? That's special.

The second thing is a little less waxy and much less poetic. Coach Ken Zaretsky (right) who honoured me with the original invitation to speak - perhaps unwittingly - set off a marketing firecracker in my brain when he gathered a bunch of us to go to a thing called 'Medieval Times.'

If you don't know it, how to describe? Well, it's a reenacted Knights of the Round Table show, over an 'authentic-ish' dinner that you eat with your hands. There's choreographed sword play, lots of dry ice and lights, and my goodness, do the high school kids love it when the horses charge each other and someone is mock-killed.

The kind of fun I'd never partake in here at home, all low-key and relaxed-like in cowboy land.

So what was the marketing firecracker? For someone who's not that mathematically inclined, I guess I do count fairly frequently, and guess what - so do the people who run Medieval Times, I found out.

Get this. The dinner show is done in a venue that's just like a hockey rink. Instead of single seats in rows, there are rows of benches with space to eat and clang your metal drinking mug. The show we were at was completely sold out and packed to the gills. Apparently they all are.

How many people capacity per show, you ask? I counted a cool 1,000.

At $50 per ticket for a 2 hour show featuring not just actors but Andalusian horses, and a meal of roast chicken, spare rib, dessert, drink, soup and garlic toast...this isn't out of the realm, especially for Orlando, or so I'm told.

In any case, you get where I'm going, right? I love startling myself like this. It just proves that scale is at work, no matter what businesses we're in. I mean, if you aren't creating something that's scaleable somehow...it's more along the lines of a craft, which is great, nothing wrong with that. And...it's a useful distinction when it comes to how you manage your business.

Okay, math. $50 per ticket. 1000 seats. That's $50,000 per show. They hold one show a day, and two per day on the weekend at this venue. (I'm not even going to go into all the venues they have.) So for the one venue, call it 9 shows per week. That's 450,000 per week or $2 million per month.

Add this into the mix: multiple streams were definitely at work. Beer and Pepsi were included, but not anything else. 'Serving Wenches' (don't be mad, that's how they introduced themselves) regularly went by asking if you wanted to imbibe something else, at an added few dollars.

Did you want to buy your mug? Why certainly you could. And everyone got their photo taken - no asking, just taken - to be offered it framed in a souvenir card to take home. Nice merchandising! :-)

I thoroughly enjoyed the Medieval Times show, although violence even prettied up like this isn't my style. I didn't however get as much into it as some of my companions - I guess the Knights of the Realm have lots going for them -how did I miss that??!

If you've read this blog awhile, or you know me at all from TeleSeminars or other presentations, you know I place a whole lot more value in the question than any answer. So here are a couple:

Putting aside the question of if you'd want to scale to this size or not for the moment...

Is your product or service scaleable? Could you - if desired - make it available to more people somehow?

(Add Associate Coaches? Train Apprentice Customer Service Folk? Buy a CD or DVD replicator that does more than one copy at a time? Is it time for you to outsource a piece of your service process?)

What's a problem that your product or service offering creates, that you can help solve as well, in a separate additional offering?

(Cheering on Knights in Shining Armour is thirsty work! I'd love to know how much additional revenue Medieval Times does in drink sales - as with any good eating establishment, the money is in the beverages, right?)

The only trouble with Medieval Times that I can see is you have to go to Orlando (or one of their other spots) to visit. Hey! I wonder if they have a catering department?!

Thanks Ken, for a great time with friends, old and new.

Along the path to creating valuable information for our clients - you know, special reports, workshops, books, or even blog posts - we can often run into a stuck place called 'trying to get it perfect.' It can go by different names such as, 'i have to come up with something brilliant and original,' 'it's been done before' or even the all-pervasive 'who am i to.'

Whatever name it goes by, the stuck place, when you're in it, is pretty icky indeed.

I'll post more about this in future, however for now let me say that I still recommend the simple adage: "Focus on completion, not perfection." Just get it done.

Why? The benefits of completing book #2 with my business partner Tina Forsyth are fresh on my mind, and start with:

- More ideas only flow after you empty yourself of the ones you've already got.

Completing the book has given me a lovely empty feeling in my brain that is fresh and expectant. Nature abhors a vacuum and although I'm enjoying the empty-brain feeling, hehe, I know something new and tender will be finding its way to me now that there is room. My favorite Feng Shui coaches would tell me I've done a mental decluttering...clutter lobotomy?

If you're at all worried about running out of creativity, or having to come up with something new and cool - don't let this hold you back. New ideas are being prevented from coming to you right now only because you may be too full. Completion is a creativity laxative...

- Whatever it is that you succeed at completing, will coach you, if you let it.

The things that happen after you complete that 'thing' - the process, the responses you get, the feelings you feel - are trying to teach you something. If you don't complete, you won't learn these lessons.

By allowing ideas and thoughts to leave my head and 'sink into' the paper they're printed on, they take on a life of their own. It's as though by getting some air, the concepts become breathing entities in their own right and are showing me where they want to grow next. This is a real gift because left in my head they were getting musty and fusty...I may have abandoned a very cool concept that is helpful to business owners because I couldn't see where it might lead.

Completing and letting it out there unperfected nixes that and I now get to grow more freely as a person, instead of trying to force external events to go one way or the other. Does this make sense?

- Completion brings relief.

I know you understand this one but let me take it from a slightly different angle.

I feel validated each time I complete something because I stand for what I teach and if I couldn't tell you in all honestly that completion is better than perfection I definitely wouldn't say it. So each time we complete a new project, I get a goofy grin - it worked again - I can't wait to tell everyone about it. Everyone is different and - I've seen it happen enough times to be able to say from the rooftops:

Regarding your current project? That one you're working on in your head, or has been for some time? Maybe it's approaching a huge new joint venture partner. Or starting a whole new business division. Or just the few items on your To Do list this week. Here's what worked for me again, probably at least six times in the 45 days it took us to write book #2.

Stop thinking, stop training, stop learning - just do. Complete. Aim after you fire, yes?

If you previously voted for the book you most wanted me to write this year, at this link: http://www.msoci.com/andrea/archives/491/ you'll either be delighted or dismayed at the one we picked to complete first. In fact, we wrote two in one, at least for now, a combination of book #1 and book #2 at the above link.

Called 'Money, Meaning & Beyond: 27 Unexpected Ways to Create What *Really* Matters for Business Owners,' I'm told the first print run is done and has arrived in New York City in time for the Power of Collaboration event next week. Completed, not perfected, it's getting really strong reviews and yes, I am most gratified at the idea it will help business owners in a way no other business book has ever tried - by appealing to you in your kitchens and television sets, through your stomach and your childhood. :-)

Now, which book would you like us to tackle next? ;-)

I wanted to draw your attention to an online marketing campaign that's happening today for a new book. You may already have heard about it so I'll shine just a touch of added light on something here.

This is a book launch you may very well want to model for yourself in future - for your next 'new' thing. There are lots of reasons - it demonstrates breakthrough collaboration, for one - but the main reason is that it's a fabulous example of classy, un-hyped marketing with a focus on real value.

As you participate in the process, ask 'how many people are *WINNING* as a result of the *way in which* this book is being launched?' and then spend some time planning how you can infuse your own business with this kind of mindset. Be prepared to loosen up and be creative.

Here is the link to the page for the launch of Michael Port's new hardcover book, 'Book Yourself Solid' in itself, a book that's solid, about how to grow your business through loving techniques (both practical and spiritual.)

http://www.bookyourselfsolid.com/win-prizes.html