. . . SO GO WITH THE FLOW!

     Today was one of those days.  I woke up with a smile, a full agenda, and a plan I looked forward to implementing, everything figured out and scheduled on a timeline. 

     But the help I’d planned on never materialized and 42 personalized client news releases weren’t going to get distributed unless I did the grunt work myself.  The best I could do for the first six people I called was leave voicemails.  The dog had bad breath and my shoelace broke.  You get the picture. 

     The whole day was headed down the tubes, but I decided to heed my own advice and “g o   w i t h   t h e   f l o w.” 

     In the softball game I squeezed in at lunchtime, I produced three pitiful infield hits and was safe on an error, but, hey, four times on base for four times up, y’know?  And I scored twice and got 2 RBI’s, but ONLY because I decided to run my butt off from the moment of contact and not give up, and ONLY because instead of cursing and throwing my bat after such feeble hitting, I stood catching my breath and laughing with the first baseman who said he was getting sick of seeing me. 

     In distributing the news releases, I uncovered bad contact information for five key reporters and was able to update the master list.  (The help I didn’t get would not have known this, and releases would have been wasted.) 

     It turned storm-level windy this afternoon, killing plans to cookout, but ending up with some super pasta, and being prompted to notice and repair a beleagured windchime! 

     I could go on, but you already know –as Paul Harvey says– the rest of the story! 

     You’ve been there and done that! 

     So, all this is is (is is is like that that?) a reminder to make the most of everyday as best you can by going with whatever lands on your plate, in your lap or on your shoulders. 

     Being happy and helping others be happy is a whole lot more rewarding (and healthy) than sweeping unexpected events you know where in order to pile drive through your task list.  Of course it helps to have a role model in your life, and I do, which is how I know about “Happy-makers.”  I’m married to one!     

 *******************************************

Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 43 days ago (inside a coffin) that previously appeared at the end of each daily post, that now has it’s own home: Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the lead headline link!

You can count sheep, but

don’t count your chickens.

“Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched!” my mother always warned me. As usual, she was right. God rest her soul. Were she still here, she would have been marching around the White House with “SAVE SMALL BUSINESS” placards, and made herself a thorn in the side of the sooo-unbusinesslike Obama Administration.

Mom would have waved her finger at Mr. Obama, and lectured him on the need for the nation to rely on small businesses to reverse our ever-deepening economic quagmire. She would have looked him in the eye and might have said something like:

“Son, you need to know that hope and 

 expectations breed disappointment.

And you just better get on with it!”

Mom knew what the White House fails to know, and that professional practice and small business owners and managers –and, yes, all professional salespeople everywhere know in their heart of hearts (but often forget):

Only by taking steps to get things

done, do things actually get done!

No, she wasn’t a polisci major. Mom quit high school at age 16, when both her parents died, to become mother and father and housekeeper to her three younger sisters and two “good-for-nothin'” lazy older brothers (who grew up to be lazy “good-for-nothin'”‘ uncles). She supported her “sibling family” working at a telephone switchboard.

After marrying my mailman father, she became a full-time homemaker (in the days they were called housewives). Mom knew hard work and tough economic times, but worked through it all with smiles and prayers. Her bottom line advice would be:

“Y’know, the more we sit around and plan and analyze and hope and expect, the less that happens. Because,” she would thump on her kitchen table, mocking my father’s pretend toughness, and say things that you could interpret to mean: “Because the game delays that result from energy expended could instead have been devoted and directed toward stepping up to the plate and swinging the bat.”     

(Mom was a big baseball fan.) 

Regardless of whether you are a photographer, accountant, publisher, undertaker, precision parts manufacturer, pizza parlor franchisee, shoe salesman, crime scene cleaner, mattress retailer, or social media marketing mogul, you can be sure that absolutely nothing works for your business if you don’t make it work. 

So get off your butt, get you glove and get in the game. If you prefer to be hoping and expecting, send in an application to become a monk, or join the White House staff. If you seek results and growth, listen to my mother who would tug your sleeve and tell you “Action speaks louder than hope.”

She would have concluded by saying something like:

“If there’s anything to count after you’re done with sheep and chickens, count your blessings, count your lucky stars, and count ON yourself. You and they (your blessings and stars) are all here and now . . . real. You and they are what you have. Make the most of you and them. And visit again soon.”

Thanks, Mom.

# # #

           Businessworks.US or 931.854.0474

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

What will you do with

your time this year?

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US          931.854.0474

10 Steps, 7 Ways, 6 Things, 3 Mistakes

STOP POSTING NUMBERS OF

WHAT I NEED TO SUCCEED!

I mean, there ARE just so many hours in the day and I have to sleep SOME time. And it makes me get insomnia-crazed having to use my calculator app to find out the hocus-pocus number of items I need to deal with, places I have to go, people I need to trample over in order to achieve business career nirvana.

Is there no one left out there in the blogosphere or social media world who can simply write about sharing valuable experiences without reminding me how bad I was in high school math, or trying to impress me (or themselves) that they are all-knowing?

“Seriously?” you ask. Hey! You doubt me? Just look around: 6 of these, 7 of those, THE 3 critical . . .

You need not even stray away from LinkedIn. Click around. You’ll find plenty of self-appointed business guru posts that will quickly lead you stumbling into record numbers of things you must do, think, say, not do, not think, not say in order to:
• Be Successful,
• Be A Great Boss,
• Be A Great Employee,
• Give Great Service,
• Make Great Sales,
• Win Great Promotions,
• Stop Smoking,
• Lose More Weight,
• Gain More Weight,
• Lift More Weights
• Stop Drinking,
• Stop Drooling,

• . . . Or, Lose Out On,
• Or, Become A Failure.

Starting to remind you of Junk E-Mail?

Ever since 7/11, and the 7 Habits stuff, and 7th heaven, and the 7 Dwarfs, and the 7 senses (counting “non” and “common”), Americans have become hopelessly obsessed with the magic of “7”—and now, we pounce on any/all small numbers of points one needs to heed in order to achieve virtually anything.

I mean, when did you last read an article headline about the 14,763 steps to effective leadership? Or the 1,529 changes you can make today to get promoted tomorrow?

Oh, and, of course, these are inevitably accompanied by side effects warnings that include loss of life and limb and that if you die from it, you can join a class-action suit with the Legal Beagle Law Firm. Aaaack!

Okay, you’re still stuck on small numbers of things to do to be a superstar? Well, here they are. They work for EVERY one regardless of age or physical condition. And they’re Free. Enjoy:

1. BREATHE more deeply, more often every day!

2. Remember that everything you do or say is a CHOICE or the result of a choice!

3. Be FEARLESS in your attitude, but keep your mind focused in the “here and now” as much of the time as possible, because the past is over and can’t be changed, and the future has not yet come, and may never. Expectations breed disappointment.

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US               931.854.0474

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

The sky is WHAT?

Ever anticipate disaster landing on your shoulders? Crushing your pursuits? Asteroids taking out your accomplishments? Business owners, entrepreneurs—even corporate muckity mucks—are vulnerable to feeling like the walls are closing in, like the sky is falling.

Maybe a competitor kicked your butt when you least expected it? Or the IRS or Labor Department or OSHA or some lawyer is breathing down your neck? An unexpected death or diagnosis in your family? Your spouse acting antsy? Kids everywhere seem headed for outer space? People around you sneering more and smiling less?

Well, “HOO-HA!” as Al Pacino once declared. Truth is (with apologies to “Chicken Little”) that the sky is NOT falling. And, uh, maybe you’re watching too much “news.”

OK, you say, but continue to ask yourself: Why can’t I have that wonderful world I hear about in old songs . . . that wonderful life that fills the screen in old movies?

VOILA! POOF! ABRACADABRA! PRESTO CHANGE-O! You can have that wonderful world and wonderful life! But it won’t be called “old” or “past.” We waste tons of energy dwelling on the past — nonproductive fantasizing that’s done and over and can’t be changed. Take what lessons you can from old/past stuff, then get over it!

Oh, and guess what? It won’t be called “future” either. Plan all you like, but don’t let it turn to worry! Just like dwelling on the past, worrying about the future is nonproductive fantasizing too! Worry distracts us in a negative way from accomplishing, going forward. And plans that become expectations breed disappointment.

“The sky is falling!” is a worrisome, but unrealistic warning (vs. for example, “The British Are Coming!” galloping cries from Paul Revere).The point is that few, if any, past or future incidents have the ability to unravel us in the present . . . unless we CHOOSE for that to happen.

Staying tuned in to the present is the challenge. LISTEN TO YOUR HEART (Song #7 at this link) . Feel your heart. Feel your pulse. Feel your breathing. Those are the three most immediate “here and now” things happening in your life right this very split second as you read this. So the secret IS:

Can you work harder at disciplining your mind to pay closer attention to your heartbeats, pulse, breaths when you begin to feel upset or worried or start dwelling on past experiences? And that too is a choice.

Choosing the present moment as often as you can is just as easy as choosing past dwelling or future worrying, so why choose to make your life harder? Are you breathing?

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US               931.854.0474

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

What I’ve Learned About

FEARLESS Selling!

Speak up for what you want. If you don’t spell it out, no one will ever know where you want to go. Solicit feedback.

When you state a feeling, opinion or belief, SAY that it’s your feeling, opinion, or belief…instead of implying that you’re stating “facts.” Imagine standing in your listener’s shoes.

STOP saying “all” and “every” and “ever” and “never” because you’ll start to believe yourself…and others will start to doubt you..

When others tell you your idea won’t work, don’t believe them. Instead, give it a goal and a strategy. It’s easier to move forward with a map.

STOP, LOOK, and LISTEN isn’t just for railroad crossings. Ask questions, observe and listen hard. But as Einstein said, “all we ever have is limited knowledge”…so when it’s time to move on, go with what you know!

Turn off the news. Bombardments of negative, tragic events will invade, disrupt, corrode and corrupt positive attitudes. INSTEAD: Sing. Dance. Read. Laugh. Play. Walk. Take pictures.

Positive attitudes are preserved when you respond instead of react. If you don’t react, you can’t over-react. Learn to blame less and forgive more.

Stop worrying about how you look and pay attention to how you behave. Entrepreneurial leaders instill confidence and inspire action no matter what they wear. Contrary to popular myth: Clothes do not “make the man.”

Look everyone and every thing in the eye. Good contact, not staring. Looking at your feet or over someone’s shoulder broadcasts ambivalence and fear…feelings that fail to: sell, instill confidence, inspire trust, communicate authenticity, show interest.

When the competition gets tough, get tougher by being better informed, by delighting (not just “servicing”) your customers, and by being honest.

Keep your eyes and ears alert, and your mind open. Take more deep breaths to keep your SELF in the “here-and-now” as much as possible . . . because success is the journey, and expectations breed disappointment.

Remember your family, your friends and how to laugh. Above all: Trust your SELF!

Live. Love. Make it easy.

 Some concepts inspired by www.FEARLESStheMusical.com

 # # #

Hal@Businessworks.US          931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and Make today a GREAT day for someone!

In 1 week, you’ll have 340,666 minutes left in 2015!

“Git yer shovel and

hipboots, Mollie;

that slick sales guy’s

back agin.”

     When did you last encounter a slick, fast-talking salesperson who answered your questions like he was snapping a towel? A car dealership? Discount furniture store? Stereotypes? Sure, but the examples serve a purpose because they bring the worst images of sales to the surface. If we can know the worst case scenario, it’s easier to strive for the best.

     The problem is, it seems to me, that many salespeople who appear to be best case scenario salespeople on the surface are actually worse than the worst underneath. They are the ones who are smart enough to recognize that nobody likes or buys a “sales hustle” anymore, that today’s consumers are more enlightened shoppers, so they blanket the truth with a snow job and hope no one notices the slippery ice below until the check clears the bank.

     These are the same hot-shots who ignore or trivialize prospects’ concerns and create diversions by instead emphasizing the strengths of the product or service being shopped, to the exclusion of the weaknesses. It’s a throwback sales attitude that no longer tweaks the twitter, if you know what I mean. 

     But, hey, doesn’t every one in sales do that? No. True sales professionals treat prospects like family (well, not including the dysfunctional cousins). True sales professionals may not dwell on weak sales points, but they won’t smoke and mirror the negatives into some dark corner either.

     Professional salespeople build high-trust reputations at every opportunity. They are invested in selling as a career. They get the big picture of life. They seek to build a reputation for honesty, not deal-making. They want to be able to establish long-term repeat-sale relationships once the sale is made.

     If you’re serious about sales and you should be… if you’re a rep or business owner or manager (of ANY part of ANY business), or an entrepreneur… because your very existence depends on how effectively you listen to customers and respond to their needs and concerns.

     This includes being as open and honest about your product and service weaknesses as you are about the strengths. Leave the one-sided boasting to the advertising and PR people. YOU are the company! Customers and prospects expect and deserve truth as well as benefits.

     When a salesperson tries to give someone a snow job, he or she is starting out with the assumption that the customer or prospect is stupid. Frankly, ANY assumption is dumb (We can all stand to be reminded that expectations breed disappointment), but starting out with a snow-making machine — and not first handing the prospect a shovel and hip-boots — is particularly self-destruct-targeted.

     It doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes with Bing or Google to learn as much if not more than any sales rep about a particular brand or product or service… and whether snow is in the forecast! 

Comment below or reply direct to Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US  Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day!  Blog FREE via list-protected RSS feed OR $1 mo Amazon Kindle. Great VALENTINE for GRANDPARENTS: http://bit.ly/3nDlGF