This year the theme will be ‘Free’. But I won’t be there, even though I would actually have liked to, because at the end of June I will be in San Francisco.

But if you’re looking for a conference to get inspired about what’s happening in the tech world, and where the opportunities for doing something fun and worthwhile, Reboot is a very good bet.

But how do you know, if you’re trustworthy? Well, you can now take this quiz developed by Charles H. Green and the Trusted Advisor Associates.

It takes you through 20 questions and provide you with a score on how trustworthy, you are. The test takes 5 minutes, and apart from providing you with a score, it also zooms in on your biggest strenght and your biggest room for improvement. For the latter there is even suggested reading.

(Via HarvardBusiness)

Therefore I have been looking for a web-based CRM system to help me manage the stuff I have got going on with clients. I have tried various solutions such as TactileCRM, but to my needs they often seemed hard to really get under my skin.

That was until I found PipelineDeals.com. This is a system that labels itself as ‘Simple CRM for big business’, and after playing around with the system, I think this is quite fitting.

First of all the system has a very slick user interface, and it allows for a great deal of customization to fit your particular needs. At the same time it seems like a lot of thought have been put into the flow of the application, which makes it very intuitive to use.

Second, there is rich options to import and export data towards other applications, which makes the barriere of starting to use the application and getting max out of it almost painless.

So far I have only found two things missing. One is support for Danish Kroner as a currency, but thats not a real problem, since the currency codes aren’t really used for anything and for reporting purposes I can use Swedish Kroner instead. The other is a way to weigh deals depending on probability, ie getting a better glimpse of what your current sales pipeline is actually worth to give you an idea of how much time you should be spending bulding additional pipeline in order to meet your budgets. I hope this one will be added soon, as it would be really useful to have.

The application costs 15 USD/month/user, and I think it’s well worth the money.

According to their blog, they’re working on mobile versions of the application, which in my mind will only add to the value of PipelineDeals.com.

It’s a very good question, and to answer it you almost have to be religious. Because this is ultimately about belief as both models are being followed for start up’s.

However, recent events suggest that the team is the all important factor. At least this is the realization that Cambrian House - a crowdsourcing community - has come to. They have basically decided to throw out their existing model and focus their future on supporting teams rather than ideas.

I think this is the right approach for two reasons. First of all people won’t put their best ideas in the public domain (a few people will, but only a few). Hence crowdsourcing of ideas will always be biased by second rate ideas. Second, if the only thing you have is ideas and no power to execute, you won’t get anywhere with it.

Add to that that when the going gets tough, it’s the people that pull through - not the idea - and you have an understanding of why it is, that the team has to come before the idea, if you want to maximize your chance of success.

Well, perhaps not. It’s all about the idea.

Look at Joy Apparel for instance. This is a t-shirt company that lets you buy t-shirts, with somebody elses drawn face right at the place of the heart. The idea is to promote peace and understanding across borders by allowing you to use a t-shirt to relate to a complete stranger in a very different way.

It’s all started by this one man: Jeff Woodrow. And this is key. Because Jeff had an idea or a vision about wanting to contribute to change in the world. Admitted, he can’t solve everything, but he’s t-shirts are making a difference to the people who buy and wear them. And in the end that’s all that matters.

(Via Procrastrinating Entrepreneur)

Howver, quite often nothing really good comes of this approach. And this is why you might as well have a set of guidelines that you follow in order to effectively manage the business aspects of your day-to-day routines.

Such guidelines can be hard to develop though. So it’s really handy when you can get inspired by somebody else like the American social media expert, Stowe Boyd, who defines his rules here.

While I’m certainly no Stowe, I think his guidelines is an excellent starting point for defining ones own rules. So thanks for the inspiration, Stowe.

…you are your own CEO, CMO, CFO, COO, CTO, you’re in control of your destiny. As you can tell, I don’t believe in fate, you are driving your ship of one.

There is essentially no difference between this fundamental truth and being self-employed. The only two differences are:

1. You’re very conscious of the fact that you are your own boss.
2. You need to constantly communicate value in order to get clients and ultimately get paid.

Selling, which is usually the big bad beast in this equation, is actually less hard as you are already doing it day in and day out to justify your paycheck. Add to this that it’s utterly rewarding to free yourself from the corporate stress, and I should think the road should be open wide for you to quit and embark on your own personal adventure. To board your own ship. Wouldn’t you?

Then what’s holding you back.

I have certainly been guilty of that, and as such it was great to read Web Worker Daily’s post on the same subject. First of all because I’m not alone, second of all because there are actually things you can do about it.

What I try to do is to involve Louise in the stuff, I’m doing. Telling her about it and trying to explain how she and our greater goals in life fit in with what I’m trying to accomplish. It’s not always easy as the rewards may be way down the line, and it’s now that she’s feeling taking for granted. So I adjust and really try to stay conscious of the balance in things. However I do think I can get better, and I’m quite sure she would agree.

This is a fundamentally important issue, since very often it’s the people we love and cherish who are both the fuel and the base of what we’re doing as self-employed individuals. It’s a treasure to guard well.

When I bring my Crumpler bag, I’m laid back, casual, creative - but not too overly focused on stuff. When I bring my high-quality leather bag that Louise bought me for Christmas three years ago, I may not be casual. But I’m focused on getting things done and being in a business mood.

I brought my leather bag today, because I needed it for me to reinforce the drive and commitment towards actually crossing the finish line on several exciting projects, I’m currently working on.

It may be a lot to put in a bag, and you may think it’s stupid. But it works for me.

Your laptop is also the obvious choice for a bout of spring cleaning. Yesterday I did it for myself. I undocked applications I use very seldom, I deleted applications I never use - and I deleted around 1000 files that were just filling up space. Finally I changed the background picture to a nice ’springy’ one, and voilá; spring cleaning completed.

Now my laptop is lean and mean and focused on bringing to the forefront the tools and files I need for my job. It feels invigorating.