Gotta tell you about a crazyass surprise party Deb and I went to last weekend.

Our friend Pam threw it for her dad Bob. It was a “milestone” birthday for him.

But Pam threw the surprise party two weeks after Bob’s actual birthday…on her own birthday.

Confused yet?

Here’s how it went…

Pam set it up so that Bob thought he was helping Pam’s husband plan and organize a surprise party for her.

Bob agreed to have the party in his own backyard. He set up the tables and chairs. He tied down the balloons. He dragged out the barbeques. He bought all the ice to keep the beer cold.

Bob really did everything except send out the invitations — which, of course, Pam mailed out to all of his old friends.

So on party day, Bob showed up at Pam’s house and coaxed her to follow him to his house under some silly pretense.

Of course, when they got there, Bob was flabbergasted to discover that the party he’d plotted for a week with his son-in-law was for him, not his daughter.

It was all great fun.

OK, ya hadda be there. It was an event, though, that everybody who attended will talk about for months, maybe years.

Hell, I’m writing you about it, right?

But what I want to point out is that Pam used a twisted kind of leverage to pull off this special shindig. She leveraged her own dear father’s time, resources, work ethic, and even fatherly love.

I’m not gonna recommend Pam’s particular methods to you, but leverage is a useful tool in the arsenal of any solopreneur.

And by “leverage,” I’m not talking about borrowing money and taking financial risks.

There are plenty of other ways to take advantage of leverage.

Leverage time — both yours and that of others.

Learn to prioritize and manage your own time effectively. Focus on core tasks in your business and outsource the non-core stuff.

Leverage your assets and personal strengths.

You have relevant skills, talents, ideas, and connections that others don’t. Offer those resources for help in return.

Leverage your knowledge and education.

Learning by experience can be a long, slow pain in the ass. You can avoid some of that through good offline or online courses, or by taking on a business coach, or maybe by just picking up a few well-targeted eBooks.

Leverage technology.

Laptops, smart phones, voice-recognition software … all this stuff can provide you more time and efficiency. Just don’t fall into the trap of compulsively collecting “bigger and better” gadgets for the sake of, well, collecting them.

Now, get leveraged!

P.S. There’s no better way to leverage your business than setting yourself up as a “modular consulting organization.” You’ll find the how-to right here: www.wallyconger.com/fearlessfreelancing.