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28 NO B.S. Time Management for EntrepreneursCHAPTER 3 / HOW TO DRIVE A STAKE THROUGH THE HEARTS OF THE TIME VAMPIRES OUT TO SUCK YOU DRYwith him. Within seconds of starting our conversation, Dan made it clear that my meeting with him would be exactly 20 minutes long. I had known that when it was arranged, but I presumed there would be flexibility and more time if needed. Right at the 20-minute mark, Dan said, %u201cSorry, our time is up; you need to move on.%u201d I was right in the middle of a sentence! As I was learning to protect my time, I found myself working with a vendor who loved to talk, and he would call me two or three times a week and ramble on and on. I decided I only needed one 20-minute call a week with him to handle on-going projects and not the two or three hours he was consuming, so I instituted a single, weekly 20-minute phone appointment. After me terminating calls with him in midsentence a couple times, he realized I was serious and began organizing his thoughts and being efficient with his call. In another case, a vendor refused to respect the limit, and I replaced him with a better one who was willing to operate within my parameters. While I was a bit taken aback at that first meeting with Dan, I look back on it as a very valuable demonstration. I%u2019ve since worked with Dan for many years, helped his referred clients, and participated in his mastermind group meetings, and I can tell you that he adheres to this practice and all the others described in this book with religious consistency. The lessons learned and methods adopted or adapted from him have enabled me to grow my business and clientele without growing my stress or sacrificing the capacity to enjoy my life with family.%u2014Craig Simpson, CEO, Simpson Direct Inc., Author of The Advertising Solution and The Direct Mail Solution, Simpson-Direct.com