We can all agree that being an entrepreneur requires rock solid support from those closest to us – partner, friends and family. They have to be willing to understand and accept just how obsessed, dedicated and crazy we really are. They have to be prepared to ride the highs of our triumphs, the lows of our defeats and listen to us hold court. You don’t have to be a genius to work out that’s why we like to congregate with other entrepreneurs and regale each other with tales of our valiant triumphs over evil – we love the guilt-free delight of talking shop with other entrepreneurs.

It’s not our fault that not everyone gets it. You can’t be as passionate and focused as we are and hold it all in. We’d explode! Sadly, the guilt gets to us, and so it should. Our partners really do endure more than their fair share sometimes. It’s often easy to forget that, even though we don’t always make a clear distinction between work and play, they might not always feel the same way.

Since becoming a single lady (cue Beyonce) and not having my partner around to bore the crap out of, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a massive ask (so maybe we shouldn’t) to expect one person to be both romantic partner and our entrepreneurial life support system, too. Sure our partner can provide a sympathetic ear and be a great sounding board for our ideas, but I believe we need to draw a line and remember that everyone has their limits. If you make yourself responsible for setting those limits, your partner or best friend won’t have to do it for you. Enough said.

I was listening to Domenic Carosa speak at the recent Capital Raising Conference in Sydney. He was extolling to the crowd of nearly 1,000 entrepreneurs the benefits of a having a ‘board’ and it reminded of Napoleon Hill’s Mastermind principle that Joshua Moore covered in his recent series on Hill’s book ‘Laws of Success‘. Inspired, I got out a pen and started writing down the names of my ‘board’ on the back of my conference pack.

As I wrote, another thing occurred to me: almost everyone on the list was there because I had gone out of my way to reach out to them. I’d knocked on their door, either literally or via the web, and made it clear that I admired their expertise and approach to business.

If I’m going to be defined by the company I keep, then I’d prefer to be the one who’s maybe a little out of place in a room full of awesomeness rather than being the tallest poppy in the field. There’s no real incentive to grow if you’re always sticking to your comfort zone.

So here are a couple of things worth considering from my lessons learned about building relationships and keeping them intact as you continue to enjoy your journey as an entrepreneur.

Building your life-support system: your Board or Mastermind Group

Reach out to people you admire and tell them why you admire them. Not in a creepy stalker way – just state the facts, be specific, be brief (everyone’s busy, so respect their time and increase your chances of a response), be professional and give them something worth replying to.

Two of my most valued relationships began in this way. Four years ago, my mentor was the author of an article on ‘focus’ and I’d emailed him to say specifically what I liked about his article. Three years ago my business partner was the Marketing Manager I had emailed at a company I admired for it’s originality and values. I even emailed Henry Rollins a few years ago when I wanted to ask his opinion on ‘conscious capitalism’, and he even replied! I could go on and on about making these types of connections, but I think you get the point. If you don’t ask, you don’t get!

Give your partner a break

Your partner loves you, and along with you comes your business – you’re a two-for-one package deal. They’ve no doubt accepted that but, from time to time, give them a break from being your partner in crime and helping you to take on the world. Get out of the office and get yourself along to one of the many events that happen pretty much most nights of the week and often on weekends in major cities.

Last night, for example, there were at least three events in Sydney I could have attended. I chose to go to the Digital Citizens ‘Social Media for Social Good’ event and met some fabulous Tweeps and got some great inspiration for a post about positive engagement on Twitter. You can’t beat the buzz of hanging out with other entrepreneurs. It’s superbly uplifting and totally addictive.

If you see me at an event any time soon, come say hello. You’re welcome to spend 20 minutes excitedly telling me about your latest idea and I wont mind a bit. As long as you’re passionate and articulate, we’ll both get something positive out of the exchange.

And you never know, I might know someone you’re looking to add to your board? Chances are, if I don’t know them personally, then I’ll know someone who knows someone who does. If not, the next person you talk to might.

Lesley-Ann Trow is a seasoned bootstrapping entrepreneur who loves to share what she learns with other SMEs. Her Consulting talents range from asking ‘why?’ roughly 17 consecutive times to assist clients develop their razor sharp cut-through WOM marketing message to helping SMEs protect their reputation and bank balance as they navigate the online world. Start following Lesley-Ann on Twitter @150dominos and please tell her if she makes a mistake.

If you’re a Mumbrella reader then you probably caught the storm in a teacup that ricocheted across Twitter early on in the week. If not, I won’t rehash it. Remember that episode of the Simpsons when all the advertising mascots come to life? Stop paying attention and these things have the habit of just fading away.

I only really mention it because at the time when I saw the tweets flying, as a Twitter newbie I thought to myself, ‘And these are the people leading the growth (and quality) of social media involvement in Australia?’ Last thing I want to do is make enemies in high places, but the incident raised some pretty pertinent questions for me.

Rightly or wrongly, we hold sports stars, politicians and other prominent figures to a high standard of behaviour because they enjoy a position of influence and leadership. So, if social media is considered in fact part of the media, and an actual form of publishing (which I believe is currently being debated), then should we hold leaders in the ‘social’ media to the same high standards of behaviour?

Granted, nobody’s perfect and obviously not everyone is going to get along online, just as in the offline world. I wonder, though: in a medium where shooting from ones fingertips in a moment of anger, frustration or even just as wind up becomes part of the permanent record — do we need to exercise a good measure of self-restraint?

Anyway, enough about that. It’s a touchy issue and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m neither equipped nor inclined to pass judgment. Questioning is, of course, another matter entirely.

On a lighter note, I’ve just concluded my third big week on Twitter and I’m happy to report that it finished much better than it started. After spending the first two weeks effectively only doing ‘recon’ and taking what’s technically termed the ‘starfish’ approach — hanging out and observing what happens — I gained a bit of confidence and spent last week talking to people and working through the six degrees of separation to find a few interesting folks to follow.

I followed a hilarious thread about a mash-up of Chris Brogan’s business card in the post “How I sucked at SXSW so that you don’t have to” from one of my favourite bloggers, Problogger co-author Chris Garrett. At the end of the thread I found the lovable punk rock blogging consultant Johnny B Truant [@johnnybtruant].

Now I have no idea if this guy is a student of Frank Kern’s Mass Control program but he’s a great character with a groovy message. I followed him, sent a tweet bonding over our mutual enjoyment of Black Flag, he then followed me back and now we’re ‘friends’. Well, you know what I mean. His tweets have been interesting and very amusing so far.

Here’s something else I’m learning about Twitter. You’ve gotta be a bit discerning when it comes to reciprocating when people start to follow you. Since starting to follow Johnny, I’ve had a few of the multi-level internet marketing folk start following me. I’m not all that interested in monetising my WordPress blog or pimping my Facebook page right now and I’m sure they’ll leave me alone in a few days when I haven’t reciprocated their follow.

The friendly reception I got from House Party PR’s Scott Rhodie when I sent him a little SOS via Twitter during the week also went a long way to restoring my faith in Twitter as a tool for not only communication but connection and research too.

You’re going to have to forgive me for stating the bleeding obvious here but I’ve had to remind myself again and again that if I don’t ask questions, don’t participate and don’t take more than a superficial glance around, I’ll never know what’s out there and I might just miss out on a great big opportunity. And, I certainly don’t want to be missing out on any opportunities.

Final lesson of the week for me. Just like life, Twitter ain’t all sunshine and rainbows, and neither should it be. It can only really mirror society – as, to varying degrees, do all other forms of media. Anything else wouldn’t really be authentic, would it?

Lesley-Ann Trow is a seasoned bootstrapping entrepreneur who loves to share what she learns with other SMEs. Her Consulting talents range from asking ‘why?’ roughly 17 consecutive times to assist clients develop their razor sharp cut-through WOM marketing message to helping SMEs protect their reputation and bank balance as they navigate the online world. Start following Lesley-Ann on Twitter @150dominos and please tell her if she makes a mistake.

I’m no inventor, so unless they open up a category for new cocktails and mood-enhancing aromatherapy recipes, I’m fresh out of luck. The award I would perhaps have more than a snowflakes chance of winning is a new type of award that celebrates more the ‘Edisonian method’ — commonly referred to as ‘trial and error’.

This proposed new awards ceremony would be about celebrating the journey entrepreneurs take and acknowledging that iterating, growing, learning, changing or modifying the plan according to evidence and experience shouldn’t ever be seen as a ‘failure’ of the original plan… but is in fact ‘business as usual’.

Personally, I live by the theory that the only way I can fail is to actually give up. Having already taken the biggest leap and made it through the first hoop of entrepreneurship by getting in there and ‘starting’ something, I can honestly tell you I’m never, ever going to give up. So if you fancy yourself as a chance against me at the inaugural Edisonian Method Awards (although, we definitely need a much sexier name for the press release — any ideas?) you’re going to need a damn good story to tell.

My journey into entrepreneurship started out pretty well…

It was about this time two years ago that I was sitting on the beach having a little moment to myself and relishing that I’d just sold my first business. I’d started the business, a Natural Therapies Clinic, with the end in mind. I created systems for everything, insisted on Swiss-like punctuality from therapists and worked hard to market the clinic as the most convenient and professional destination for stressed out execs and local business owners to unwind.

The one thing I wasn’t great at was keeping overheads low, so when it came time to sell after four years, I achieved a price that was about twice my earnings before tax (EBIT). Problem was, my EBIT sucked. My net profit growth over the four years hadn’t kept up (as a percentage) with the revenue growth of that time. I learnt a big lesson there about the way a business is valued.

Although I had expected to come out of it with a little more cash in the bank, I was still really happy with the sale. I’ve since begun to understand what I would have to do next time to increase both net profit and the multiplier applied to realise a better price.

Spurred on by initial success, I embarked on my next adventure.

Business number two, started in 2006, Gorgeous Things, is my entry in the Edisonian Method Awards. My journey over the last three-and-a-half years has been full of thrills and spills, expensive ‘learning experiences’ and outright stuff ups. There’s been continual iterations and even a complete business model change.

If my faith in the ‘trial and error’ method and my own ability to change and grow will ever be fully tested, this is the business that’ll do it. It’s also taught me that you have to be prepared for the path you set out on, to take you to a very different destination than you might have planned for.

What started out for me as a direct sales business promoting the natural, organic and Fairtrade products that I am so passionate about (with an online store mostly for re-orders) has morphed into what is soon to become a small scale (initially) online magazine for the community of women we’ve established over the last few years who want to look fabulous and feel great naturally. How did I start by selling a hand-picked range of products only to arrive a few years later at becoming a publisher?

I’ll happily air the dirty laundry of my last three-and-a-half years in my current business if it means I can help a fellow entrepreneur avoid making some of my gaffs. Like anything in business, the devil is in the detail. If you happened to catch my previous post here on Anthill, you’ve already heard one of my tales from the trenches — the ‘disaster recovery event’ that saw my e-commerce site and blog get hacked — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

Before I do share more though, I’d love to hear your story. Have you, like that lovable scamp GOB from Arrested Development, ever “made a huge mistake”? Or, did your business start out on one path only to end up somewhere you never expected?

I’m all for embracing these realisations, whether they take the form of major stuff-ups or a systematic series of iterations that lead to a better way of achieving success in our businesses. It’s the best way we can all learn from each other.

So, leave your entries below in the inaugural Edisonian Method Awards. But know this: whatever it is you’ve done that you think is such a clanger of a mistake, you’re not the only one.

Lesley-Ann Trow is a seasoned bootstrapping entrepreneur who loves to share what she learns with other SMEs. Her Consulting talents range from asking ‘why?’ roughly 17 consecutive times to assist clients develop their razor sharp cut-through WOM marketing message to helping SMEs protect their reputation and bank balance as they navigate the online world. Start following Lesley-Ann on Twitter @150dominos and please tell her if she makes a mistake.

As a small business owner and Marketing Consultant, I initially had to learn a lot about the web and technology just to survive. You know how it is, evolve and innovate fast or just get left behind wondering what the hell happened. Lucky for me, turns out I love being a part of the online community and in four years of blogging I’ve met some of the most generous and talented people that inhabit the space and hope that I’ve added something of value to the conversation, too.

Last week I attended the National Growth Summit in Sydney. My client, CFO On-Call, had taken my advice and sponsored the event. The first day (Wednesday) of this two-day event saw me there in a management / Mother Hen / butt-kicking role of making sure all the partners made the most of the many networking opportunities. Day two was a different story; I went along primarily as an attendee at the Technology to Drive Growth workshop.

Admittedly, I was in and out of the workshop due to my commitment to my client, but what I can tell you is we have some pretty amazing people in our web and tech industries (I’ve separated them for a reason) here in Australia. On the web side of things, Anthill regular Mick Liubinskas from Pollenizer gave a memorable presentation on Agility and the need to Test ideas in a measurable way. Prior to that, Mike Walsh delivered his ‘look at the past to predict the future’ (my words not his) anthropological look at the web.

Stephen Collins from AcidLabs really got my attention with his roast of ‘segmenting’ your market and informing the crowd they were selling to ‘people’ not ‘segments’. Hallelujah! Kate Carruthers from Sydney Uni spoke just before lunch on Engagement, which was a great reinforcement on the previous day’s satellite hook-up with ‘Worldwide Rave’ author David Meerman Scott. At this point I now have at least five people I respect to follow on Twitter and Twitter in itself is sounding like a much better use of my time.

Moving on to technology, Rob Manson from MOB gave a very cool presentation on the (not too distant) future of mobile technology. A helicopter controlled by an iPhone (nice!) and I wish I’d known about the Sculpture by the Sea App last month. My mind is now buzzing with ideas of how I can integrate this type of technology into future marketing plans for several of my clients — when maybe the development cost of Mobile Apps drop to SME-friendly levels. I live in hope!

SaaS platforms were the order of the day, too. Geoff McQueen from Hiive Systems did a great job of pointing out some of the issues of not thinking through your software choices and the need for integration of all business systems to eliminate double handling and errors in information as it travels in, out and around a business.

Geoff was also gracious enough to answer my question about SaaS providers giving clients assurance of continuity of service (what happens if the provider goes broke, etc?) and readily available back-ups (can the data be uploaded directly into an alternative system without too much drama if the unthinkable should happen?) I’m no expert (I think I’ve made that abundantly clear), but I think those two questions should form at least part of the due diligence any SME conducts before choosing any business system, cloud or otherwise. My concern is always: how will this affect my clients?

As a small business owner my BBH (before being hacked) Disaster Recovery Plan consisted of hoping to hell it never happens and congratulating myself when I remembered to back-up my data. The gut wrenching feeling of having your website and blog containing three years worth of posts hacked is only exacerbated by talking to the 19-year-old tech at your web host who enquires in a smug tone as to where you back-up your MySQL database each night. I think that poor guys ears are still ringing with the expletives I cursed upon him.

The long and short of it is that I got all my data back but it took my host an entire week to send it through. I’m pretty sure that was payback for my unleashing, for which I am repentant. Fear of the unknown can cause you to ‘react’ like an arse rather than ‘respond’ productively to the situation at hand.

Why did my site get hacked? You’re gonna laugh. Anyone remember what was flying around the web last year about old versions of WordPress? You guessed it… I hadn’t upgraded to the latest version of my favourite Content Management System since… well, let’s just say it had been a while. I’m still really embarrassed about the whole thing, but rather than hanging my head in shame and not telling a soul, I’m here telling my favourite SME community in the hope that my story will save perhaps you (and that undeserving 19-year-old tech from your web host) the pain of discovering your Software Upgrade Schedule and Disaster Recovery Plan doesn’t actually exist.

So, if you’re a small business owner taking on the web without a solid tech background, and I’m guessing that’s a fair chunk of us, then I’d encourage you to get yourself along to as many educational events as you can. Make it priority to follow the people I’ve mentioned in this post and be very careful what you leave completely in the hands of your ‘web developer’, your ‘SEO expert’ and your ‘Web Host’ because if you’re going to enter the online world and do it well, then it’s up to you to be informed and educate yourself so that you’re prepared.

Maybe I’ll share some experiences with SEO providers and Web Developers from my SME perspective another day — got some good stories to tell there

Or you can help make me feel like less of a newby and follow me on Twitter @150dominos.

Lesley-Ann Trow is a seasoned bootstrapping entrepreneur who loves to share what she learns with other SMEs. Her Consulting talents range from asking ‘why?’ roughly 17 consecutive times to assist clients develop their razor sharp cut-through WOM marketing message to helping SMEs protect their reputation and bank balance as they navigate the online world. Start following Lesley-Ann on Twitter @150dominos and please tell her if she makes a mistake.