Oh my, its early hours of the morning and I cant sleep. I often have problems sleeping and this is probably due to work and stress.

Problems are reported to me everyday from all offices within the group, some issues small and some big. I have had a number of conversations with other CEO’s in the past about how they run their businesses etc..and they seem to not worry too much about the items outlined in the diagram shown above but in all in all being a CEO you are the one that has all the responsibility.

I firmly believe that the companies reputation and success comes down to the CEO and I would have to say that motivating staff would have to be the most important role for any CEO and this is something that I have never let go of since my company started employing people.

When ever I travel to the companies branch offices I always make sure that I make time for all staff members, doing this shows that you care and that care about results and their personal growth within the business.

I would like to write more about in a future post but for now I will attempt to get some more sleep before waking up at 4:45am for a gym workout with my friend.

Goodnight zzzzzzzz

I have now been in business for over 3 years now and I dont think I have changed my sleeping habits at all during this period. Quick power naps during the day is the key to getting through a long and stressful day at work..generally speaking I usually only sleep about 4-5 hours per night - weekends being an exception to this as I try and catch up on lost sleep.

This is me in the above photo last week in Tokyo while I was shopping with my friend…..I felt the need to have a quick power nap so while we were in the department store I found these comfortable chairs so I opted for a quick 15 minute power nap…It is amazing how much more energy you get back after doing this.

We all love sleep but for me I have chosen to sleep less so that I can get more work done especially at night when all office locations are shut for the day and the calls are not being recieved on my mobile phone (my most productive times of the day).

Throughout my career so far I have come across a number of young CEO’s and most have chosen to sleep the same amount of hours as myself so that the job can be done.

Do you think I should sleep more?

One of things which I enjoy doing very much when I go away on business trips is going out to nice dinners with friends, staff and other business associates of mine. Although dining out at nice restaurants comes at a cost, it is something which I enjoy very much and will continue to do for the rest of my life.

I especially enjoy travelling to Japan because there are so many different places to choose from and the restaurant shown in the above photo is a Vietnamese dining place which offered a large range of delicious dishes. Customer Service is always something which I have never been able to fault in Japan due to their willingness to be kind and caring of one another in all that they do. I have started a diary which states my favourite restaurants around the world and perhaps sometime this year I will place this list on my blog for all to see.

I will continue to enjoy eating out and who knows perhaps some day I will open my own restaurant ^^

Dear All

This calendar year has been the usual turbulent year  with massive expansion across all offices within the group hence why I have not been on my blog for a while writing about my business and also what  I have been up to outside of work.

During this period I received a number of emails and messages through the blog asking:

* Is the company still around?
* Are you still alive?
* Did you sell the business?

I understand that the above has been crossing a number of peoples minds since the last time I wrote on the CEO’s blog was back in November last year. Although I can not release too much information here, I can tell you all that the company has just been through a very intense re-structuring process and this is why I have not had the time to jump onto the blog to write… ohhh and on top of that I have been cycling a lot in my spare time :)

I will go on a business trip this week starting on Friday the 24th of April to spend time with our new director of operations in Japan office…his name is Shin Matsubara and I welcome him to the company and to a position that I feel is going to be a very challenging and rewarding, so welcome to the team Shin ^^

I need to get some sleep now so I will write more later..

zzzzzzzzz

My friend who has an office in the same building as myself called my direct line a little while ago and kindly invited me to his office as he had something to show me. See the attached picture, what is wrong here? I have never seen anything like it before, someone had actually placed all these stamps on the box.

My friend and I couldn’t stop laughing for a few minutes over this one and I hope you have a laugh over it too. It really does make you wonder why people take certain approaches to achieving things in life. Was the sender of this parcel just being lazy? Or was he/she just playing jokes? I know when I started my business at 21 years old I used a credit card to establish my own enterprise, was that risky? Stupid or just Irresponsible? Thank god in my situation it paid off as this is how I got Micro I.T Solutions off the ground.

I have now grown an international enterprise which I feel is something to sit back and reflect on, as it hasn’t been an easy road for me at all.

I had the ultimate opportunity to of met this man ” Takafumi Horie 堀江 貴文,” more often known as “Horiemon” a true entrepreneur from Japan. His office is located in the building that I wrote about in the following blog entry http://bradleybyrne.com/?p=33 . Horiemon was CEO/Founder of Livedoor Inc Japan a web design operation that grew to a massive Internet portal involved in a wide range of businesses. 

After being arrested on accusations of securities fraud in 2006, he severed all connections with his company. He was granted bail and his trial began September 2006. On March 16th 2007, Horie was sentenced to a 2 years and 6 months imprisonment. Did Horiemon engage himself in such activity?

Horiemon was always criticized by his conservative Japanese business circles for his unconventional methods—everything from his practice of corporate expansion through acquisitions to his informal attire. In a country where neckties are absolutely essential for businessmen, he is frequently seen wearing t-shirts or unbuttoned collared shirts.

A more comprehensive story on Horiemon may be found here http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/16/business/web-0316livedoor-NYT.php

A common saying in business is “the customer is always right” however we are an I.T company and customers are not always right.

The above said I as the CEO of Micro I.T Solutions love customers, this is not a saying for my customers to love me more but this is actually how I feel everyday. If you begin to like them only for money then after you perform a transaction you dont like them anymore.

I love customers and I love my staff so one thing I have always strived for is to form a solid connection between my staff and my customers. I believe there needs to be a good balance between both parties.

Sometimes customers I love strongly request that I cut the cost but I do not easily accept their request and give them discount. I always say to my customers that I will consider what I can and find an appropriate price.

I get really angry when a customer calls me and says “Am I being ripped off?” When a customer feels so, the sales person involved in the transaction is terribly in trouble.

I believe that it is very important to work loving people in all respects.

I previously spoke about my hobby (cycling) on my blog which I believe was back in March this year. It was that time where I bought a reasonable bike but since that time I have became to love this hobby so much I decided to go out and purchase a much more nicer bike.

This is myself in the picture enjoying a ride along the coast with a good friend of mine. Waking up at 5am every morning to ride your bike for me is just wonderful, I have met so many nice people through cycling.

The next purchase may not be for a while as this one meets the needs of a newbie quite well

It’s early hours of the morning here in Australia, I just woke up thinking about our Japan operations and all the exciting things that are happening over there at the moment.

I will make a hot chocolate now to try and help me sleep.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ^0^

Time is critical to me and I always make the most of every hour I am awake during the day. Lately I am finding it harder to find the time to write about recent events and my thoughts on my blog.

Speaking of my blog, lately I have been receiving feedback from people about the issues and events I write about on my blog.

The following has been said more than once to me lately:

* Do you sleep? You seem to write on your blog at odd hours of the night.
Yes I do sleep in fact 4-5 hours a day is enough for me, late at night is when I am relaxing with a glass of wine and that’s when I write on my blog.

* There are many spelling errors on your blog!
This is natural because I’m sleepy and its usually very late at night so concentration levels are to a minimum.

* Is releasing sensitive information about your staff such a good idea?
Yes I believe so, because a bit of action for the people that read my blog regularly keeps them entertained.

* You seem to write only about your business and your travels, perhaps write more on what you get up to in your free time.
Work plays a big part in my life so I believe its only normal to write about work on my blog. I will take writing about my private life on-board and write more about other things I get up to.

I really do appreciate it that people are taking the time to read my blog. The fact that people all around the world are reading up on my life is really quite flattering.

Thank you!

As a CEO of my own enterprise only I can reflect on my own actions and it’s important to remind myself if my days are productive while in the office. Do I mislead myself to think that the time I spend reading emails is actually doing work? Is sorting emails serving clients, my employees, the community and more importantly is it leading to my growth?

Perhaps crossing my arms and engaging in deep thoughts has more value than sorting emails. There are a few rules that I follow everyday without fail:

1) Call instead of replying to emails. If an email reply is going to be longer that 5 lines then it requires a phone call. Of course communicating by phone incurs charges but I believe phoning the recepient is better than emailing.

2) If you read an email once, never read it again because reading the same email over and over again is wasted time.

3) Use rules in your email program to sort emails. Sorting emails is wasted time, I used to do this a lot but now I use my blackberry and email program to sort emails automatically.

4) Work is not about using the PC its about using your head and taking action.

I firmly believe that not doing the same thing twice is the most efficient way an individual can work.

Thanks to the Australian Newspaper for such a great article!

I received an enormous amount of phone calls, emails, text messages and face to face comments from people I know very well and from people who I have never met before. This will certainly get framed and placed on the wall in my office.

Please feel free to read the article by clicking on the link below.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23879491-5010941,00.html

I usually only write about business related topics on my blog but from time to time I would like to express my feelings about certain events that occur in my private life.

Dealing with a death of someone that is close to you is a tough thing to deal with and recently I lost my home-stay mother in Japan from breast cancer (48 years old). She was not only the most caring person I’ve ever met but she was a woman who could make everyone around her really happy including myself. The first time I visited Japan she welcomed me into her lovely Japanese home which for me felt just like home.

My home-stay mother is married to one of the director’s in my company so showing my support and hopping onto a plane to Tokyo immediately was the best thing I could have done for him and his family. He is still on holidays with his two son’s as I instructed him to take leave from work until he is ready to return as I know that this is a very tough moment for him and his family.

I remember it was salary review time in Tokyo office recently and my manager approached me and asked that his salary be reviewed due to the expansion and growth of this office. My reply to him was “sure, no problems but I will not increase your salary until you start getting home before 9pm every night so that you can spend more time with your family”, 2 weeks later his wife passes away…He thanked me dearly for this as he spent a lot more time with his wife before her passing which I am sure she would’ve been very happy about.

So overall this was a very sad moment in my life and she will be someone who I will never forget!

The companies overseas office in Japan is situated near one of the busiest train stations in the whole of Japan and Micro I.T Solutions was lucky enough to of leased out a section of office space in the Sumitomo Building which is near to this station. Most of the companies staff commute from many different locations within Tokyo and to get to the office they need to arrive at this busy station and then walk towards the south entrance and then they are almost to our office.

Tokyo life is fast paced and busy, most people barely get to sit down when coming to the office in the mornings and the same applies too when coming home late at night.  I remember when I first established Tokyo office I used to walk through this station with my luggage and several other bags and it was near impossible as there were just too many people around. I guess being Japanese and living in Tokyo you get used to it but when travelling I try avoid these types of places because business trips are a time for me to relax and unwind.

Since my last post about reaching Platinum Frequent Flyer I have now reached 360,000 points and this is growing at a rapid rate. I love travelling and relaxing so I will continue to work hard towards reaching my goals so that I can travel more regularly.