Last weekend I was in Bangalore for attending “Startup Saturday” and “Heavy Metal Bloggers Meet”… I made a small post about Startup Saturday and didn’t do justice for Blogger meet… I thought I must write one because I’ve never seen such an energizing meet where getting along was soo informal and easy…

Before sharing the experience I want to tell you about IndiBlogger.in a social networking site for bloggers and the site is gaining momentum… I really like the concept behind the site and thrilled to know if is run by someone from Chennai…

Heavy Metal Bloggers Meet happened at Stone Pub in Indra Nagar 100 feet road, venue is stone throwing distance from my old office (I had short stint as employee might be less than 3 months)… The meet was sponsored by Kingfisher and beer’s were offered for free; am happy recession didn’t affect beverages industry… My Special thanks to Vijay Mallya & Kingfisher….

Networking in pub is not a new affair to me… Infact I’ve a lot of beer mates in my life… But this time it was different because everyone is a blogger and synergies are equal… Met couple of interesting folks… I remember couple of names Sourav, Amit, Swaminathan, Revin, Karthik, Naveen, Anwin(Organiser), Narayanan (We knew each other before)… We shared our experience and then there was some quiz conducted…

Then I sat along with Amit and were discussing about entrepreneurship… Yep I’m a Startup evangelist and when I see someone interested never give them room to leave :)…

Here are some on the snaps taken and you can fee how it would have been;

Thatz the Banner for the Meet…

Free beers and you can see what the consumption would have been… People took more than their limit and it then you can imagine… it was FUN FUN FUN everywhere…

Even there was glamour attached… And these were the people who organized the meet…

Itz me(Orange T-Shirt) & Sourav…

Quiz Time

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

1. Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Six ways to make people like you

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
6. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

Win people to your way of thinking

1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
2. Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say, "You’re wrong."
3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.
6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
7. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
9. Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
10. Appeal to the nobler motives.
11. Dramatize your ideas.
12. Throw down a challenge.

Be a Leader: How to Change People without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

A leader’s job often includes changing your people’s attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:

1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Let the other person save face.
6. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

I wanted to share with you all a real case where in I got help from many brains in the world… Yesterday (02/17/2008) I was loaded with lots of work… In the back of my mind I wanted to create a FUN environment in my office… I was unable to think anything beyond Chess, Carom & Table Tennis… So I decided to get more ideas/thoughts from people and posted a tweet

“folks can you suggest some indoor office games which you loved to have it in office”

To my surprise there were tremendous response and still I keep getting suggestions… Here are some on the replies I got in twitter…

halfbrain @anandnataraj [games] Install some good multiplayer shooter games in local lan and ask them to play against each other..even girls enjoy it about 5 hours ago from web halfbrain @anandnataraj regarding games.. Is your office big? If so put up a TT table otherwise darts will be a good diversion another good idea is.. about 5 hours ago from web sudarmuthu @anandnataraj [folks can you suggest some indoor office games which you loved to have it in office] Table Tennis about 5 hours ago from web in reply to anandnataraj    archonline @anandnataraj how about chess 😛 about 6 hours ago from twhirl meetgopal @anandnataraj Chess & Carrom (Low investment, good games, less space). If you can afford, threadmill & TT for physical exercise about 6 hours ago from web in reply to anandnataraj manishmo @anandnataraj Carom, Darts, TT, Chess, Scrabble, about 6 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to anandnataraj arifulanam @anandnataraj him. Thus the elimination game continues to its finish. about 6 hours ago from web arifulanam @anandnataraj name happens to start with the letter he gets in his turn he is out of the game, the game continues from the person next to about 6 hours ago from web arifulanam @anandnataraj so on till ‘z’ & start again from ‘a’ with the next member or next round- the important thing is if anybody’s about 6 hours ago from web     arifulanam @anandnataraj For a large group: Alphabet game : The first member starts with the letter ‘a’, next one says ‘b’, next one ‘c’ and about 6 hours ago from web arifulanam @anandnataraj you can play the usual games like 20 Questions Pictionary Antakshari Dumb Charades Most of the suggestion might be common but Dart, Network Gaming, Scrabble, Treadmill for exercise, Alphabet game and more were not in my mind at all… That is the power of multiple brains working for a single need and I must really thank twitter for creating such a platform…

Also there are many cases where I used twitter and other social networks for my benefit… Since this is in parse of Twitter let me tell what all I gained from twitter till now… I won two business deals thru twitter… I wanted alpha testers to test a product developed by Cogzidel and when I posted tweet requesting help, there were lots of people who showed interest to help…

 Let me list some of the benefits I got from twitter…

• Sharing of knowledge
• Sharing of information
• Sharing of ideas
• Getting business
• Collaborating & Co-creating
• etc

Just understood the power of social media and community participation and wanted to share it with you…

Thanks a lot Twitter…

Though accounting is a support function it demands high importance in an organization… I remember this famous quote said by Rich Dad to Robert Kiyosaki

“You accounts statement shows there is cancer in it”

In the book Kiyosaki states “when he met Rich Dad to get his advice on the position his business, what Rich Dad asked was for Accounts Statement and reviewing the accounts statement he said Kiyosaki that there was Cancer in his company”. What Kiyosaki means is a company’s position can be read from its accounts.

Likewise a promoter needs proper accounting systems and practices to reap the benefits of all the hard work he has put into his entity… Companies like Worldcom, Enron, Satyam and many more unheard stories have fell down because of accounting irregularities…

Accounting reports are very important and an entrepreneur needs it to take strategic decision… Without an Account’s Report most of the decisions taken can’t be accurate and can prove a costly mistake…

Also we need to Account’s reports and projections when we apply for a loan or approach PE’s or VC’s for funding… But this support function has mostly been sidelined by many promoters and by the time they realize their mistake, it would have been too costly…

So, I recommend entrepreneurs to give high importance to Accounting function’s and hire a experienced Accountant and gain control from the beginning… If you are unable to afford an experienced accountant you can outsource the support services where in you get the same advantage and still have control…

Let me consolidate some points and make a brief…

• Accounting reports helps in strategic decision making…
• Analyzing and reviewing performance of company’s growth…
• Need these reports to apply for loans and for approaching VC’s & PE’s for funding

Health:

1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2008.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:

11. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don’t over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:

25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:

32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last week has been a dynamic week where I had nice opportunity to link with many fellow entrepreneurs… When things happen right it keeps happening right… Last week I had at least one business networking forum happening every day starting from Tuesday till Saturday… Some how I had to miss startup disco…

It all started with an invite from Business Gyan magazine to attend their panel discussion on importance of Business networking… Panel members were from Headstart.in, HRD forum, TIE & BNI Bangalore chapter and they gave very good insight about the importance of Networking in Business… One good take away importance of being proactive in networking forums… Example if someone joins a business networking forum that is not the end of road, to get results one has to be proactive and a go getter… We had met around 30 entrepreneurs in the meet and exchanged business cards…

Then the next day we had to go to BNI-Awesome chapter… BNI meetings are conducted every week in the mornings at 8 o clock sharp… Chinmaya from Business Gyan gave me an invite and we are pretty interested the way it is organized… This one is a professionally run forum and exclusively for exchanging contacts and businesses… Most folks complement each other than competing… I recommend folks to tryout BNI…

Then the next day we had to attend another BNI-Bdazzlers meet… One good thing about BNI is they never allow companies/individuals with competing products/services to be a part of a chapter… That is one reason that it is a place for complimenting business… I was thrilled to see people sharing references… According to their experience, what they say is any contact is less that 5 degree level… Example if I want the contact of Mr.Narayamurthy it would be less that 5 level like Me -> Reference 1 -> Reference 2 -> Reference 3 -> Reference 4 -> Mr.Narayanamurthy… After attending their session I started believing it…

Bangalore has eight BNI chapters, ironically Chennai doesn’t have any and some folks from Bangalore are taking initiative to start it in Chennai & I’m planning to help them to start it in Chennai… Sadly I missed out on Startup Disco that evening… We exchanged almost 70 business cards on both BNI meetings…

Then on Friday & Saturday it was Proto.in… Hope I need not give any information about Proto as people can visit their site and understand… Proto helped me to interact with Incubators, Startups, and Investors… Got different perspective of businesses and came to know about different business model and innovative approach of young entrepreneurs… Proto boosted my energy levels and kindled fire inside me…

Over all trip to Bangalore was satisfying and self-satisfactory and I’m thank Mr.Bala Murugan my CFO to give good company and support me to make this initiative a success… Over all we came back by distributing 200 of our business cards and collecting 120 business cards… Now it is time to convert these contacts into business… Next week will be concentrating on that…

One of the panel member Mac Srinivasan shared about eight types of wealth creators by Roger Hamilton.

When i visited their website http://www.xlwealthdynamics.org saw a brief about the eight types of wealth creators and i wanted to share it with you.

“The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it.” – Andrew Carnegie

Each of the following eight wealth profiles create value and leverage in unique combinations:

CREATOR – create wealth from products
Examples include Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Walt Disney

STAR – create wealth from personal brand
Examples include Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson, Michael Schumacher

SUPPORTER – create wealth from leadership
Examples include Jack Welch, Steve Balmer, Steve Case

DEAL MAKER – create wealth from deals
Examples include Donald Trump, Rupert Murdoch, Li Ka Shing

TRADER – create wealth from trades
Examples include George Soros, Kirk Kerkorian

ACCUMULATOR – create wealth from appreciation
Examples include Warren Buffet, Paul Allen

THE LORD – create wealth from cashflow
Examples include John D Rockefeller, John Paul Getty

THE MECHANIC – create wealth from system
Examples include Sam Walton, Ray Krok, Jeff Bezos

Today was one of great business learning moments in my life… Got an invitation to attend the panel discussion of Business Gyan… To tell about Business Gyan in brief, it is a monthly business magazine to know more visit their site http://www.businessgyan.com…

I’ve been to many businesses networking clubs, they were all unconferences or open clubs, but this time came to know about professionally run business networking clubs… The amount of learning a professionally run club offers better exposure than open clubs…

I learned about 8 types of entrepreneurship, concept behind professionally run Business Networking Clubs etc… The panel members were highly knowledgeable and they gave a entire new dimension to the concept of entrepreneurship…

Next month there is a panel discussion on Entrepreneurship and if any folks like to attend just ping me, I’ve got some invitations…

I’ve requested for the videos of the event and if I get it, will pass it on to interested folks…

Tomorrow will be attending a business networking meeting at 7 o clock in the morning and it is strange that it is happening during the morning… Anyways will keep you posted on the experience tomorrow…

Thank you…

“One who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; one who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.” ~Chinese Proverb

“When you love the unlovable and forgive the unforgivable, you’re free.” ~Bernie Siegel

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” ~Henry David Thoreau

“Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds.” ~Buddha

“A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.” ~Gandhi

“Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.” ~Buddha

“It is always easier to be right than helpful.” ~Barry Magid

“We wonder how people can’t see the most obvious things about themselves, yet we forget those people are us.” ~Ezra Bayda

“If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

“You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?'” ~George Bernard Shaw

“He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.” ~Confucius

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” ~Stephen Hawking

“Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.” ~Buddha

“Physical gifts will break or fade, but your gift of love will last forever.”

“To conquer oneself is a greater task than conquering others.” ~Buddha

“No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place.” ~Zen saying

“All that we are attached to is impermanent – so there’s nothing to get ruffled about.” ~Sara L. Weber

“You will not be punished for your anger; you will be punished by your anger.” ~Buddha

Last two days my brain almost stopped working and I didn’t find any interesting topic to write… That is when I thought I can leave it to my followers in twitter and I got couple of ideas…

I want to share some stupid things I did in business, some may be funny, idiotic and stupid but would be interesting to read… Let my rewind and start shooting them…

• First business meeting to get a corporate training project in a company in Guindy, Chennai. I didn’t know java nor any business thoughts… Still a student, I stood like an fool in front of their team… I didn’t give any appropriate answer in a meeting which lasted an hour… Today I can’t believe how I overcame such a situation…
• An inspector from Employee State Insurance (ESI) visited my offer… ESI is like social security an compliance which companies in India must comply… When that lady entered the office with and approached me, I asked her to get out telling I’m not interested in getting any insurance policy…
• Initial days I offered college projects for students to sustain… Three girls MCA girls came to office requesting for project… After talking a lot about java came to know those girls already completed a project in java and wanted to get a certificate… Ended up getting ragged by those girls…
• My office boy brought a guy telling he has come for interview; actually he is a marketing guy and has come to sell his banking product… For fifteen min I was taking the HR round and only after finishing my interview both of us came to know that there was a mess…
• I was hunted by Thiruvanmiyur police for two days and the constable found me after two day and yelled at me telling he was hunting me for 2 days… The address constable had been wrong and he somehow made it… I was scared a lot and he asked me to come to Thiruvanmiyur police station… When I visited the station I came to know that inspector was looking for a groom and the groom was working in my company and he was to get a testimony of his conduct… The way that constable took me to police station was very rude and I had high temperature once I came out from police station and recovered only after a week…

There are still more things, but these are the things I can immediately recollect… When ever I remember things, I’ll add them as sequel…