I am on the board of directors of a wonderful organization called IIEE which helps high school kids in disadvantaged and underserved populations.When I spoke at their annual conference this past Saturday, I met a group from East Newton, MO. What was amazing about this group along with their teacher, Denise Stafford was the effort they put into coming to the conference. Denise told me about how economically challenged the community is. They had to earn the thousands of dollars it required to attend the event. They rented a yellow school bus to make the 14 hour trip from their town to Chicago. The businesses they started ranged from bath salts to fudge.  But let them tell you their story:

I spoke last week at an Indiana Venture Center sponsored conference called Incubicity. What in Incubicity? It is a business plan competition to help Indiana form and grow new companies. What I like about these events are that people right here in the middle of America are starting real companies: Things for flat bed trucks, more efficient buring of fuel substitutes, soy products… It is proven that during difficult times people go out and start more businesses because they have no choice. And yes, I asked these entrepreneurs how do they bounce?

I had forgot how quickly television and the media moves. With the new book, Bounce! I am doing more television. I taped a segment for First Business today in Chicago on what we need to survive and prosper in a recession. I arrived at the station at 10:00 AM to record my segment.  I met the host, Beejal Patel and was escorted to the set. I was “mic-ed up” and then she started to ask 5 or 6 relevant questions….and that was it. Beejal thanked me and escorted me to the lobby. I looked at my watch- 10:12 AM. Wow! That was fast.

I guess I always imagine that my television appearances will be like Oprah or Jay Leno where I am sitting on “the couch” and when we have to break away for commercial the hosts says, “Barry, this is fascinating. Can you stay and talk with us a little longer”. So far, only in my dreams.

One of the most famous quotes in world history is Winston Churchill’s WWII speech that England will “never, never surrender“. This probably is good advice in war but not in business. Winners know when to quit. As Will Rogers says, “If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you have to do is stop digging.”

I was reminded of this in a recent article about a Japanese High School baseball team that was down 66-0 after 2 innings. They quit. This made good sense. The pitcher had already thrown 250 pitches allowing 26 runs in the first inning and 40 in the second inning. (The average major league starting pitcher usually throws about 100. In 6th grade, my son is only allowed to throw 40 in a game). Quitting here makes alot of sense.

It is difficult to know when to persevere or just quit. On one hand, we need to persevere, to stick it out many times to be successful. Alternately,quitting gives us an escape hatch, so we can let go of the present result, and bounce, take another action that can give us another chance of success. How do you choose? Look at your passion and your cash flow. Talk to your trusted advisors around you. They will help you make the right decision.

The Japanese baseball team was smart to call it a day. The good thing is in baseball, the next game they play, the score starts at 0-0.

I watched some of the Masters Golf Tournament yesterday. It was mostly to watch Tiger Woods come from behind to beat the rest of the field…but he didn’t. Trevor Immelman won from South Africa. What is most interesting about Immelman, who had won another recent major golf tournament, the 2006 Western Open is that he actually missed the final cut in a golf tournament in Houston the week before. He had not finished higher than 40th in his last 6 tournaments. A week later, he was the Masters Champion beating Tiger Woods. Now that’s a bounce!

I spoke yesterday at a global sales meeting for a $100M technology company. Even though I was speaking at 5:00 PM, I had to fly in early in the morning to make sure I was there on time. Airplanes work mostly but you can’t trust being on time with our aviation system. When I arrive early at a location when I come in just for the day, I try to get a day room at the hotel where the event is so I can relax and practice my speech a bit. I practice almost every day and this day was no different- except there was no place to practice. There were no rooms at the inn as they say.

I finally was able to get into the exercise room of the hotel which was empty (and freezing!). I was practicing parts of my speech outloud as I always do to the empty room. I then  decided to text my performance coach to let her know that I was practicing and keeping my commitments to constantly improve my presentations.

In less than a minute after I told her I was absurdly in an exercise room rehearsing, her replay came back…

“And I am rehearsing in the lady’s room- I do a presentation in 20 minutes”.

I had to laugh and realized what I crazy business I am in…and statisfying. What can be better than to stand up on stage, passionately speak about what you believe and have people consider what you have to say?

When I was in Springfield, Illinois last week, I stayed at the fanciest hotel in town: The Crowne Plaza. When I checked in at 7:00 PM at night, there were 9 people in line with only one person at the desk to check us in. While Bill at the front desk did a great job trying to check people in quickly, there was no back up for him to help out. The front office manager’s card, Michelle Skube, was on the counter encouraging me to report the situation to her. Bill needed backup. I of course did send her an email that evening and I have heard nothing since I sent it on Thursday. I never excuse poor customer service. But when you offer to help or resolve customer service issues, at least answer your email! With Michelle not even answering my email, it makes a bad impression even worse.

I won’t even discuss that it took an hour to get a hamburger at the hotel dining room that evening….

I am in Springfield today speaking at Capital City’s Speaker Showcase. It is kind of like American Idol, but for speakers. They invite 14 speakers to perform in front of 100 meeting planners and associations who want to hire speakers for their events and conferences. We each get 20 minutes to perform part of our speech. From these performances, the attendees then pick who they want for their conferences. I feel fortunate to be here since all of the speakers are amazing. I also was humbled by the level of skill that the speakers exhibited and their level of professionalism.

I was looking forward to speaking at the Entrepreneurs’ Club in the Second Life virtual reality world..especially on April Fool’s Day when I had been invited by Cybergrrl oh. But it seems like my “second life” has some of the same problems as my first life has- crashes. I walked around Athena Isle this morning and I loved the posters advertising my speaker event. It looked like it was going to be alot of fun, but as I tried to log in before the event, Second Life was closed- emergency maintenance. Sometimes my first life needs this kind of maintenance too. I understand.

I spoke on Friday at the Business Awards dinner at Schoolcraft College. I never had heard about the college until they invited me to speak at this dinner. It is a two year college of 24,000 students outside of Detroit. The students I met came from a diverse background of experience and ages.

When I was there, I learned about their new academic forgiveness program which I thought really allowed students to Bounce! If a student is returning after 10 years between the last time they went to school, they can exclude one semester or 12 credit hours from their go forward grade point average (GPA). This is a great way to allow returning students you want another chance at academic succss to be able to bounce- and be given another chance at success. I think this is truly innovative. Are other schools doing this?

As always, I asked Schoolcraft how they bounce: