If you travel for business OR pleasure, this is a site that you should DEFINITELY add to your travel favorites both for long-term planning, and short term reference.

From their website description:

“This site provides an online travel calculator to help you find answers quickly.  If you’re planning a trip, you can measure things like travel distance and travel time. To keep your travel budget under control, use the travel cost tools.

You can also browse information on flights including the distance and flight time.  Or use the section on driving to compare the distance by car, or the length of your road trip.

Finally, use the map below or the links on the lower right to lookup an airport, hotel, city, state, country, or zip code. You can use the bookmark button at the top to save any page, or try searching for your exact destination.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

I read a great blog yesterday on Creating a Personal Masterplan from personalmba.com that I thought was very insightful and concise.  Josh Kaufman talks about building and prioritizing your goals, states of being and habits and creating your own Masterplan.  I’d highly recommend reading it.

I am re-reading “The Effective Executive” by Peter Drucker.  It’s amazing to go back to a book first published in 1966 and recognize that, even with the tremendous technology advances we have made, the principles are still relevant and pertinent today.  There’s a quote in the first chapter that I highlighted, and really sums up my commitment to 2012.  “Knowledge work is not defined by quantity.  Neither is knowledge work defined by its costs.  Knowledge work is defined by its results.”

The best thing you can do to establish and maintain relevancy and build your personal value is by doing whatever it takes to deliver results.  Affect real change and real  results, and do it today.  Then do it every single day in your personal and professional life.  Start every day with a purpose and execute on it.  Then keep on executing, and don’t get lost in the analysis.

“Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren’t any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life’s challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person.”  – R. Buckminster Fuller

2012 for me is the year of results.  It’s going to be my best year yet – what about you?

If you know on Friday the outline of the following week, it truly does make your weekend more enjoyable.  Go in prepared, knowing what you have to do.  Get that edge, it will make a difference.

In my mind, a proposal is made up of a few key elements:

• A summary of what your prospect or customer needs
• A summary of your qualifications to perform the work
• A summary of the work to be performed
• Pricing / cost analysis
• (Sometimes) a brief ROI
• Assumptions
• Statement of terms, or a reference to terms on file

These can range from a one page simple quote, to a complex, verbose document with sample timelines, requirements and appendices.

The better you know your customer or prospect’s culture and expectations, the better prepared you will be to win the deal.  Knowing what they want and need, and articulating and communicating it is the key.  Showing your value against what may be cheaper solutions.  Delivering what they asked for.

I read a great article on fedmarket.com that I thought I’d share with you.  I’ve included an excerpt, but I’d encourage you to go out and read the whole thing.

One or Two Pages May Do It

By Richard White

“Proposal writing is both an art and a science. The art part is the solution that the customer believes will solve their problem with minimal risk. Often several pages of creative solution content will swing a win. It doesn’t matter if the solution is information technology, management consulting, program support, or a product. They are looking for:

• Risk aversion, risk aversion, and risk aversion; the three R’s of proposal writing
• Feasibility and practicality of solution (their perceived solution, not yours)
• Speed of implementation
• Speed of staffing
• Uniqueness of staff
• Proven capability to solve the problem
• Nearness to customer
• Special facility
• Unique features and benefits
• Unique management capabilities”

Until next time.

The surgeon was there, waiting for the service manager to come and take a look at his bike.

The mechanic shouted across the garage, “Hey, Doc, can I ask you a question?”

The surgeon a bit surprised, walked over to the mechanic working on the motorcycle. The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked, “So Doc, look at this engine. I open its heart, take valves out, fix ‘em, put ‘em back in, and when I finish, it works just like new. So how come I get such a small salary and you get the really big bucks, when you and I are doing basically the same work?”

The surgeon paused, smiled and leaned over, and whispered to the mechanic…

“Try doing it with the engine running.”

Proposed dog breeds, but it’ll probably be awhile before they’re AKC-registered:

Collie + Lhasa Apso
Collapso, a dog that folds up for easy transport

Spitz + Chow Chow
Spitz-Chow, a dog that throws up a lot

Pointer + Setter
Poinsetter, a traditional Christmas pet

Irish Water Spaniel + English Springer Spaniel Irish Springer, a dog fresh and clean as a whistle

Labrador Retriever + Curly Coated Retriever Lab Coat Retriever, the choice of research scientists

Newfoundland + Basset Hound
Newfound Asset Hound, a dog for financial advisors

Terrier + Bulldog
Terribull, a dog that makes awful mistakes

Bloodhound + Labrador
Blabador, a dog that barks incessantly

Malamute + Pointer
Moot Point, owned by… well, it doesn’t really matter

Collie + Malamute
Commute, a dog that travels to work

Deerhound + Terrier
Derriere, a dog that’s true to the end

Bull Terrier + Shitzu
Well, you get the idea….

So in doing some reading today, I followed a couple of links to check out the progression of e-book technology.

Kindle books outsold “real” books on Christmas day. http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/12/amazon-kindle-books-outsold-real-books-this-christmas/ I was happy to see that this just meant that this was just on Christmas Day. (As people got their Kindles, they bought books – most people probably were NOT on Amazon on Christmas day.)

Still, though, over 9.5 million items for the Kindle were ordered on Christmas day according to the company’s press release. This means that the idea of the “physical book” is beginning to be less important to us as consumers.

I don’t know. I don’t have any ebook technology yet. I’m not sure that I’ll ever simply replace physical books with ebooks. I enjoy the tactile experience of books too much. Even down to dog eared pages and bulky hardbacks…

The one place I think I would really see ebooks being a huge add is when traveling. I tend to take 2-3 books on even short business trips, and I’m sure the weight isn’t great for my spinal health. Having a reader – would be great for that. At home, however, I like the idea of my bookshelves and browsing them just fine.

I like the info on Kurzweil‘s platform called Blio… Blio “actually lays out the “pages” as they would be seen on paper, with typography and illustrations copied across. It also supports video and animation. In some ways, it’s reminiscent of the interactive magazine applications (also meant for upcoming tablet devices) shown off by the likes of Time Warner, Popular Science publisher Bonnier and Wired’s parent company Conde Nast.”

In the end, I’m going to be watching this technology closely. I hope to see some cool advances as this progresses, and yes – this WILL be my next electronic toy purchase.

Now to decide which one…

What do you use? Any pointers on picking a good technology? What has been your experience? Do you see ebooks replacing (in whole or in part) your ownership of physical books?

Let me know… It’s my first pressing question of the New Year!