Most people know that I am not a fan of books with numbers in their titles. For Kandias Conda’s book, Make $1,000 in 35 Days, I made an exception. In fact, I wrote the preface for the book. Kandias is on the staff of where I am a board member, The Illinois Institute of Entrepreneurship Education. In fact, I am speaking at their annual conference on Saturday where 500 high school students learn and practice entrepreneurship for 3 days. This is a big issues since Staples reports that 40% of kids age 8-21 want to start their own business.

What I like about Kandias’ book is teen entrepreneurs do need more guidance and a path to get where they want to go. They need more guidance. Sometimes in this world we have far too many choices. It can get very confusing. Althought there are no 5 steps, Kandias gives teens a detailed roadmap for the first 35 days . Sometimes the hardest part is starting and knowing where to begin. It allows you to test drive being an entrepreneur to see if you have the passion to succeed.

Okay, another confession.

The working title of my new book, Bounce was actually orginally, “The Resiliency Spring”, but most people hated that title. Too hard to say, and too much of a buzz word. Now I see what they were talking about. Sherwin-Williams has just come out with a paint called, Resilience. (if you must know it is satin exterior latex). As their press materials say:

“Formulated with MoistureGuard technology, this paint cures in about half the time of most conventional exterior paints and can be applied on the dewiest days without concern that its adhesion will be compromised. Designed to withstand peeling and blistering, Resilience can be used on masonry, concrete, steel, stucco, vinyl and wood substrates. It is available in a wide range of colors in a flat or satin finish.

Somedays, I wish I could paint Resilience on my body, especially for thost days where things are going quite right. I never want my adhesion to be compromised! And when things really get bad I could use something to prevent me from peeling and blistering. Sun tan lotion just doesn’t seem to do the trick.

Last night, Slingshot, Capital One’s new small business network launched in Raleigh. Over a hundred business owners showed up to hear about how their business could benefit from being part of this new social network. I was the keynote speaker again. What I always love about speaking in this part of the country is their hospitality. People are always warm, kind and welcoming. I got the question often; “When will you be back? Come by and visit me in my business”.I met up with a lot of people that had read my first book and now were interested in reading Bounce! Small business owners are yearning to tap into social media but without all the distractions that other networks have- enter Slingshot!

I talked to many business owners who are involved in the real estate and mortgage business and this part of the does not seem as hard hit as others. It was also refreshing to see so many owners from “main street businesses” like photography, carpet cleaning, commercial window washing, ministers, travel agencies, signage, real estate, mortgages, construction, and financial planning. We forget sometimes with all the fancy businesses that we read about every day that these main street businesses are what really make the economy hum.

I met Michael Port last year and I have excited about how he has helped thousands of small business professionals all over the country. In his first book, Book Yourself Solid, Michael shows a proven lead generation and marketing system for service professionals. His new book, Beyond Book Yourself Solid, which just came out he talks about how you can build your business in “the service of others”.

Today, I was featured on a conference call with 250 of Michael’s students to talk about Bounce! We discussed strategies that service professionals need to use to bounce and build true business confidence.

Listen to the Podcast on Michael’s site.

I am Jonathan’s newest fan. I met him at the Small Business Tech Conference in New York on Monday. As his blog, Awake at the Wheel says: “Wake up your mind (he is a yoga guy too) - this ain’t your mamma’s self help blog- not that we have anything against your mamma.” Check out his blog. His avatar looks just like him.

In his latest video post, he takes issue with the fact that I think that failure just sometimes sucks.

For most of our lives, we’ve been told to look at failure as just another opportunity for learning, an event that gets you one step closer to success. I’ve believed and shared this opinion many times. Because the alternative is a tough pill to swallow.

I spoke in front of 400 people yesterday at the Small Business Tech Summit at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in New York City. It was an amazing conference buzzing with small and large business. At the conference, there were large companies like Dell, Google, and Verizon. But, there were also alot of small technology businesses selling their wares and learning the marketplace. It was a great networking event.

Before my speech, I went around to the various participants, handed them an orange rubber band ball and asked them: How do you Bounce?

How do you Bounce?

Let me know here or tell me in your own video on YouTube on how you Bounce!

I wrote a piece for Joe Hauckes blog, Working at Home on the Internet. It was interesting to go back and think about how I went from working in a very formal work environment to my home office (or wherever my phone/PDA is). An excerpt:

“I practiced what I preached in my book. Not worrying about if I had success or failure in writing in a particular day- I just wrote as part of the overall cycle and kept “bouncing” to the next chapter. I also tried to “strived for minimal achievement” and I did not get caught up in the enormity of the task. I would focus on one section at a time and not worry about an entire chapter or getting it right perfectly the first time. Focusing is becoming an increasingly difficult skill since there are so many distractions, but it also can become relaxing when you relieve yourself of these things by shutting them off and telling people to stay out. We all need to let go a bit more.”

Dan Janal, A PR Expert runs a great site called Cool Book of the Day…and he has chosen Bounce! for today.

We have some beautiful ads for Bounce! that will be in upcoming magazines. Click the thumbnails below for the larger images (click the title of this post to get to the full entry).

So keep an eye out for these in the future. And feel free to drop either of us an email if you see them anywhere!

I’ve also added a field up at the top of the blog for anyone who is interested in subscribing to Barry’s blog. In theory, you’ll receive an email whenever Barry writes a new post. In theory.

~Katherine

I met Jim when my first book, You Need To Be A Little Crazy came out in 2003. He is a huge supporter of small businesses. Here, Jim talks about the new book, Bounce! during today’s interview. He is most interested in the link between the cycle of success and failure. Give it a listen.