Beware of Business After Basketball

Last week, after a long day of work followed by being a taxi cab service for the kids followed by me spending an hour in my role as assistant coach to a basketball team of 9 year olds -- I held a conference call with prospective clients in Singapore. Don't, repeat, don't, ever do that.

I was not sharp. I was dull.

My throat got dry and I couldn't talk.

And they no longer reply to my emails. It doesn't matter that I have proven results (it's MY client that was positioned in the top 5 selling iPad apps of 2010, along with Apple's 3 apps and Angry Birds, thank you very much) -- but I was raspy and not overly articulate and that probably sealed my doom.

This is where international business gets tricky for me. I've got clients in the UK and Russia, but they're lovely people who never want to talk on the phone so email is grand. For those who like conference calls, it's going to require me to somehow live a full life during the day and still somehow present myself as credible when they want to talk at their 10 in the morning and my 9 at night.

And I won't forget the bottled water next time either! I'm going to avoid the situation though because, let's face it, I'm not a night person. Don't judge me when I'm braindead after yelling at 9 year olds who can't make a simple unguarded layup for Pete's sake!