Back At It

Wow, I know you missed me, my loyal follower.

Since my last post in September 2008, let's see . . . . I was working with long-time friend David Foster at BVR trying to launch a legal division, BVR Legal. After a few months we agreed the idea didn't have legs. I think we can safely say the idea didn't have much of a torso either. But hey, we tried it. And all the credit in the world to David for giving it a shot. That's not to say BVR doesn't have opportunity in legal markets -- they have tremendous opportunity there. It's just that, in the end, not enough of our customer base was the right target for their products. Like I said, we tried it; it didn't work. During that time, like right now, 15-hour days and weekends were pretty much standard. On New Year's Eve, when many of you were drunk, David and I were settling. By 7 p.m. I owned, of all things, a conference business. What better business to be in when budgets for training and travel have been slashed to the kidneys? I figured I could zig while everyone else zagged. But first I had Kung Pao Chicken to celebrate, then worked until 11 p.m.

How's it going? It's tough! We're currently losing less money than the company did while we were at Lexis and BVR. I am no businessman, but I believe the intention is to not lose money at all. I read that somewhere. I think in HBR. So we are scrambling to take advantage of some great assets and some interesting new opportunities.

I will attempt to post some of what we're learning as we go.

First lesson. Don't be afraid to try new stuff. Don't constantly talk yourself out things. Sure, do you business cases, do your math, do your plans, but as has been said many times, test, test, test. And there is no test like a live one.

I will share life-altering chestnuts like that as we go, and keep you posted on our business. The thrill for you will be to see if we succeed or crash. Think of it as a reality show. It could go either way folks. By the way, we don't do just legal conferences. We will do weddings, bah mitzvas, and children's birthday parties. Gallow's humor or Zen?

Either way, wish us luck! This much I can say: we are having a ball! What a great business when you get to live with your customers!