Don’t try to be

something you’re not!

A good many over-zealous entrepreneurs (are there any other kind?) seem to think that the solution to their financial woes is to try to be all things to everyone…”Whaddever ya need, we got it!” I heard a small business owner say recently, and he wasn’t talking about one type or category of products or services. He meant, literally, that he could provide ANYthing.

Well, of course he couldn’t really do that, but he was ready to pounce on any opportunity to make a buck — willing to stand on his head and spit wooden nickles if he thought it would part you with the money in your pocket. A huckster? Not really. He was simply misunderstanding that those who purport to be jacks of all trades are no longer credible or desirable in today’s world.

When economic times get tough,

dig in, don’t spread out!

People want knowledgeable, reputable, professional specialists –doctors, plumbers, teachers, builders, most retailers, consultants, lawyers, manufacturers, online businesses, et al. Most of us save up to deal with fly-by-night generalist businesses for when we’re on vacation and expect to get “taken” by those who cater to tourists . . . but not the rest of the year!

It’s easy and tempting to jump on a customer request when it’s not something that’s really up your alley if you’re expenses are dragging you closer to the brink of desperation than your income can comfortably offset. It’s easy and tempting, but it’s also stupid! In the end, trying to be all things to all people will turn around and slap you in the face . . . or kick your butt!

Force yourself to stop and think about what YOU want when YOU are on the buying end. If that’s not enough to turn your brain around, remember the old  Miracle On 34th Street Christmas movie storyline about how much the Macy’s Santa does for Macy’s by sending customers that Macy’s had no ability to serve to Macy’s competitor, Gimbels.

That’s not just some fantasy Christmas movie. There are millions of similar dynamic incidents that drive successful entrepreneurial enterprises today. What people want from you is trust. They want honesty. They want you to help them solve a problem, not try to sell them something they don’t need or want. Should you send everyone to your competitor? Of course not.

But customers don’t want to deal with a business that pretends to have the answer to their dreams because it represents a “quick buck” opportunity. Professional salespeople know this. Many entrepreneurs do not, and continue to try being something they’re not. Bottom line? People are not stupid. They know when a business owner is pretending.

The best solution is authenticity. It wins more business in a minute than years of make-believe.

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Hal@Businessworks.US

If you own or operate a

business or professional

practice . . . . . YOU are

“The Mother of Invention”

If you work anywhere in that vast sea of government or private mega-enterprise incompetence, click off here and visit some other website that lets you be corporately lethargic and obscure. If, however, you’re running or managing your own business or some innovative part of a business –real parent or not– read on: YOU are the “Mother of Invention.”

Now Peter Drucker who’s referred to as the “Father of Management” may not like that idea, but–I would challenge him. I mean, when did “Mother” ever lose to “Father”?

Today, in other words, is also a day to celebrate YOU being your business’s parent.

First off, anyone who works for you sees you in a parental light. You are looked up to for guidance and leadership. You are a role model. You may not like providing inspiration or being thought of as something special, but you ARE.

When you can face up to it and make the most of it, you’ll be helping your staff, your self and your business to grow.

Don’t just provide leadership. Provide leadership by example; people want to learn by watching and trying and doing.

Don’t just provide leadership. Provide leadership that’s transparent. Keep all your business dealings clearly defined and out in the open. Forget that you have a “Bcc” setting on your emails. Stop closing doors. Share information freely.

If you’ve hired good people to start with, you’re only toying with risk levels that are reasonable. If you’ve got a bad apple or two, your open-and-above-boardness will flush them out.

In other words:

Give everyone a chance to give you a chance

for your business to have a chance to succeed.

Now, Mothers and Fathers, let’s look at that “Invention” word that you’re parenting. And this, by the way, includes the world of healthcare– especially hospitals! If you’re not CONSTANTLY creating and inventing and innovating . . . coming up with new ideas, ways, methods, designs, plans, steps, contacts, messages . . . EVERY DAY, then you are investing in the status quo.

Keeping things the same, not rocking the boat, and “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” are the prevalent nonproductive notions anchoring most stagnant corporate giants, every government agency, and all unsuccessful small businesses.

Business owner Job One is to stay out of that trap. Don’t let anything interfere with your daily birthing of inventive thinking. It’s how you started your business. It’s what’s carried your business. It’s what will will make the difference between your business surviving and your business thriving in the months and years ahead.

This doesn’t mean every lightbulb that goes on over your head needs to light up the world, or even that little dark corner of your workspace, but it does mean that you and your business cannot afford to pull the plug on that open socket; keep trying out new bulbs; follow up with some and discard others. [Edison made 10,000 tries before inventing the lightbulb!]

Innovation, remember, is taking the rarest of those good ideas and seeing them all the way through, every specific step of the way, to their final destination markets — even if only on paper or the computer screen. Together with your business itself, it’s those parented ideas that become the inventions that you mother and nurture into adulthood. Happy Mother’s Day!

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Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0116

There is no way

to happiness.

Happiness IS the way!

Stop looking for the finish line. Watch your feet. Happiness is not the destination. Happiness is the journey.

If you’re having trouble getting that message, it’s because you’ve consciously or unconsciously chosen to set yourself up to get brainwashed into thinking that nothing of any value exists besides the future. Well, in fact, dwelling on the past that’s over and can’t be changed is equally neurotic to being focused on the future that hasn’t yet come . . . and may never!

This futures mindset is a common occurance with salespeople who live to reach and exceed their weekly and monthly and quarterly and annual goals. Nothing wrong with goals that are specific, realistic, flexible, due-dated, and written. But the blind pursuit of any target that doesn’t measure up to all five of those criteria is simply a futile wish-list chase into fantasyland.

Talk with a car salesperson to get a better perspective on how happiness gets lost under reckless abandon to achieve a rigid inflexible goal at all costs.

If a goal is flexible, for example, and it’s clearly not going to be met, it needs simply to be changed — change the amount, the time period, the process, the methods, etc. Effective goals are not meant to be etched in concrete. Meaningful targets are always moving. Effective goal achievers move with them by glancing ahead and staying firmly anchored in the present.

What makes focusing on the future unhealthy? It quickly and easily turns away from being a positive and constructive direction when it stealthily tip-toes over the line into worry. Worrying is a complete waste of time and energy. It produces absolutely nothing except negative stress which rapidly produces illness.

Okay, you’ll grant me that worrying is worthless, so if that’s the problem, what’s the solution? It’s not a magic answer because each of us handles stress differently. So here’s a list of the most common solutions that most people tend to practice in one form or another. Try what sounds right for you, and what seems practical at the time.

Then keep trying until something works, but don’t quit on yourself!

Yoga; swimming; jogging; workouts; walking; singing; dancing; deep breathing; massage therapy; crafts; playing with a baby; playing with kids of any age; playing with pets; keeping a journal or diary; visiting another close environment (woods, beach, etc.); reading fiction; watching a cartoon; drawing/sketching/painting; fixing a meal (if this is not something you usually do); listening to music with your eyes closed . . .

The point is to know when you’re starting to feel stressed (this can be the most challenging part of the solution) and then to stop whatever you’re doing and do something different for a minute, an hour, a day . . . whatever’s appropriate for you, now.

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Thanks for visiting. Hal@Businessworks.US God Bless You!

“If you think sometimes

  that you just can’t win,

remember that life

is not a contest!”

— Kathy Alpiar

She reminded me of this shortly before her life struggles ended this past March at age 55. She had reminded me of it often over the last 25 years of our marriage . . .  almost always after my face retreated into my hands bemoaning some frustrating situation or another that I had somehow boxed myself into. I’m told everyone does this on occasion?

If you’re an American, you probably grew up with the conviction that everything you had to deal with every day –from school and Scouts to college or trade school and a career to marriage and family raising– was (is) a contest!

Admittedly, in a nation dominated by sports performance and competition at literally every level of life, it’s hard to grasp that “life is not a contest.”

But it’s NOT a contest.

(Workaholics, please re-read those last five words!)

• Life is a gift. It is a blessing. We either consciously or unconsciously choose to embrace it, or choose to waste it.

• Life is a waste when it’s obsessively dedicated to ultimately meaningless, make-believe values — making money, acquiring things, trying to impress, being self-serving and self-indulgent, putting others down, bullying, chastising differences, thinking and acting dishonestly.

How much of our precious time on Earth is wasted each day trying to get even; trying to undermine, manipulate, or represent ourselves as more than what we are; trying to pretend; trying to bait those who are weaker into our arena so we can defeat them or make them look foolish? Can any of that possibly be serving our true best interests?

If the answer to that question about how much time, by the way, is anything more than one minute, it may be worthwhile to think twice about Kathy’s quote. In other words, is our purpose here on this planet to make a difference?

How important is integrity?

Kathy wasn’t suggesting that we all abandon competition and head for some mountaintop to meditate on our navels. Of course we have to be responsible to earn a living and pay our bills. But what she was saying was that there’s a whole lot more to life than having such narrow pursuits d-i-c-t-a-t-e human existence.

Entrepreneurs get pounded over the head with these finger-waving “take time to smell the flowers” thoughts because they tend to disappear into a product/service development zone to the exclusion of friends, family, and many of life’s joyful experiences. They substitute the pursuit of “success” to the exclusion of what’s around them. I know because I’ve been there.

But I’ve come to realize that return on investment is not the sole province of business. ROI has also to do with having an ongoing sense of humor, a conscious effort to cultivate only positive stress, making room in our lives for living, keeping our promises, and being perpetually focused on service to others. Thanks Kathy.

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If the past sits in judgment

of the present,

will  the future be lost?

I heard a twist of this (the headline above) on the radio recently. I can’t tell you when or where or who, but it rang a bell. Is it just my imagination or do we too often –in life and in business– get ourselves caught up in over-analyzing what went wrong and what went right in order to decide what we should be doing today? Some of my earlier posts called it ANALYSIS PARALYSIS.

Contrary to many popular beliefs, over-analyzing is not a symptom of entrepreneurship.

We live (men especially) in an analytical world. We watch instant TV sports replays in slow motion and stop action in order to know down deep in our souls whether the ball actually touched the ground before it was caught, or while it was caught, or after it was caught. I mean, like who could possibly sleep without a satisfying answer to that nagging question?

Probably, an entrepreneur. Okay, well, there are entrepreneurs and there are psychopreneurs!

Those who are unfortunate enough to have to make a living working for the government or some mega corporation probably spend half their careers taking apart research reports and study findings looking for clues about what happened or didn’t happen last month, last quarter, last year, last decade . . . in order to adjust a present course of action.

Entrepreneurs make adjustments on the fly. If they’re wrong, they adjust the adjustment and try again.

Most corporate and government managers, for instance, weigh risks then use analytics to justify not taking them. Who in their right mind, for example, would want to make waves that could topple the corporate ladder she or he is climbing?

Entrepreneurs take reasonable risks (which rarely if ever includes climbing political ladders). Entrepreneurs will bet their profits, but they won’t bet their farms. They will start a new side business, but they won’t visit casinos or stuff their pockets with lottery tickets — those are not reasonable risks.

The problem of course is that the more we tend to assess who did what to whom and what broke when and why the horse we led to water didn’t drink, the farther away we get from moving forward, from innovating, from controlling our own destinies, from making the differences each of us wants to make in this world.

Entrepreneurs, by virtue of how they think and act, and choose to believe, represent society’s real catalysts for change. Maybe they do work harder and not smarter, but they get things done. They alone drive the economy. They alone represent the opportunities that government and corporate giant environments fail to breed.

Entrepreneurs move constantly forward into the future while focusing on the present.

When you find product or service you like, that works the way it’s supposed to and is economical to boot, know that it was likely created and cultivated without excessive analysis . . . and thank an entrepreneur.

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Go for your goals, thanks for your visit, God Bless You!

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

Are you just along for the ride

…or are you making it happen?

The physical world that each of us inhabit may be the same planet in the same universe, but the mental, emotional, and spiritual worlds each of us wake up to every morning are as radically different as each of us is unique, even when we may be living, working, and playing with common goals, grounds, pursuits, and like-minded people.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs spells out how different the motivation needs are for each person at any given moment, and suggests that we do the best we can as employers to be good detectives and figure out –ongoing– what, exactly, will prompt repeat positive behaviors. 

Most people DO the jobs they have; they get through the day; they “live” for the weekend; they rise to the occasion when necessary not out of enthusiasm, but from feelings of obligation . . . or fear. Are you listening to this, dear boss’s? If it sounds familiar, you may want to reassess where your business is headed, who’s going along for the ride, and who’s making it happen.

This –2012– is not a time to be timid in your decision making about your people and your purposes if you are to continue moving forward. No, I’m not suggesting a program of ruthlessness. I am merely pointing out something you already know but have perhaps relegated the thinking to that back burner in your mind: that things are not always what they seem.

Every business owner’s greatest asset is her or his people. But just being friendly and nice to your people is not enough to lead you (and them) down that elusive path of success and prosperity.

Even in these uncertain economic times, employees today seek challenge, opportunity, recognition, and appreciation more than pay raises. Let me say that again: Employees today seek challenge, opportunity, recognition, and appreciation more than pay raises. If you just passed over the earlier reference to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, stop a minute to check it out here.

This is not to suggest that money is unimportant; money earned though as part of –for example–  a performance incentive that drives new business in the door is valued much more than an annual review raise.

When companies give turkeys out

every Thanksgiving,

they are expected to give turkeys out

every Thanksgiving.

As with many government program recipients, it’s easy to become lackadaisical, uninspired, and dependent when business owners (or the government) cultivate those behaviors. But there’s no need to go off the deep end and become a rah-rah cheerleader. . . or pile rewards on people to the point of disability, or –like the turkeys– have them be taken for granted.

It doesn’t really take a lot of time or energy to pat backs; shake hands; smile; offer sincere compliments; say please and thank you with at least a flicker of eye contact (or some email boldfacing); or make a practice of telling people how much you appreciate them for their time/ effort/ support/ loyalty/ conscientiousness . . .

Take another look around you. What and who are your sources of reliability and positive energy? What and who are pulling you and your business into uninspired, negative directions? As Chaucer said over 600 years ago,  Time and tide wait for no man. Don’t delay taking action. Being timid costs money and relationships. Choose instead to step it up and move on.

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Hal@Businessworks.US   931.854.0474

TIMELESSNESS

Surely you jest! The closest we’ll ever get to this state of existence (and still be living) is on vacation (or drugs!), or by meditating or exercising. Reality dictates that timelessness is not a condition of most employment, unless you’re an Astronaut.

~~~~~~~

So what’s a poor creative business type to do to achieve a big enough taste of nirvana, be inspired to greatness and  innovative genius . . . and to prompt meaningful sales?

First, manage your time more efficiently. Pay no attention to corporate trainers and consultants who advocate that life is not about managing time but should instead be about managing your self more efficiently.

CREATIVITY IS NOT SPAWNED

BY EFFICIENCY.

Creative expression evolves from dreaming, trial and error, inspiring examples, hard-nosed research, brainstorming, testing, communication, and often from sleeping on your ideas.

You’ll do –for example– a better job of creative marketing or website design after watching an animated movie, or after taking a walk or jog through the woods or a park, or along a waterfront.

You’ll get more creative traction out of playing with a toddler, or a puppy, or visiting your local ASPCA adoption offerings, or a nursing home, children’s hospital, school, theatre or day care center.

In other words, get yourself up and out of your element, away from your “normal” day-to-day environment.

ROUTINE EXPERIENCES

DON’T STIMULATE CREATIVITY.

Total immersion in the exceptional, extraordinary, bizarre, unexpected, and unusual DO.

Savvy creative directors send their writers, artists, and designers to different kinds of events to broaden their horizons and enable expanded thinking directions. It’s not unklike getting up from your desk, drawing board, computer, or workbench to take a short walk, a break, a stretch, or to get a cup of coffee. This also translates to not eating lunch in your workspace.

When we make a point of achieving little hunks of timelessness in the consciousness of our daily work efforts, grabbing at it whenever possible, we will perform better than those who don’t, and better than we normally would when we don’t take time outs!

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Open   Minds   Open   Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Get it in writing . . . 

The Hardest Business Task!

Yes, test your objectives. Yes, test your strategies. Yes, test your tactics. And, yes –first and foremost– test your concepts. It’s the only sensible way (before spending money on ideas that might sound great, but that fail to produce), to make sure your pursuits are solidly grounded and integrally connected. 

~~~~~~~

What’s the hardest task in business? It’s really not hiring and firing, or funding, or maintaining operations, or making sales (though HR, finance, operations, and sales people may all want to lay claim to having the most difficult jobs). The hardest task is getting it in writing. Huh”? What’s “it”? And what’s so hard about writing? Writing what? 

I believe the most challenging of all business tasks is getting your direction and contingency plans straight. (Considering widely-published SBA findings that over 90% of business failures are attributable to “poor management,” knowing where you’re going is certainly Job One for most entrepreneurs.)

Writing your objectives clearly, simply, specifically, realistically, flexibly –and with a due date attached– has proven time and again to make the difference between revenues and profits, between success and SUCCESS!

The more principals, partners, investors, advisors, managers involved, the harder the task. It becomes exponentially difficult because –to have any value– everyone involved must agree at least somewhat with every word. In other words, agreeing on a precise target is sometimes the most trying of all challenges.

Is it (your target objective) the same as your Mission or Vision Statement?

No, but it probably needs to directly reflect both.

Whatever the objectives (or goals) are that you verbalize for yourself or your business, they need to be:

A) Missions in and of themselves, and they must fit conceptually under the umbrella of your own or your company’s overall Mission Statement.

[If your objective(s) fail to measure up to your overall Mission Statement, or don’t quite fit under its umbrella, re-examine where you’re headed with things. You may need to switch gears, or direction, or timing, or desired results.]

B) Following the path of your Vision Statement.

[If this isn’t happening, redirect your focus or re-visit your Vision Statement to consider some adjustments.]

Can you make changes and still be “on-target” with your pursuits? Absolutely! Remember that flexibility (together with realistic, specific, and due-dated) is one of the key criteria for effective goal-setting. If you’re not reaching the goal you defined, be flexible enough to redefine it, or change the tactics you’re using.

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Miracles Will Never Cease!

It’s true. As long as you work harder and not smarter (Ask those who succeed instead of those who teach!), stay perpetually positive, appreciate those who support you, believe in yourself, and pray to and trust in God, you can boost your odds for success right through the roof! 

~~~~~~~

Here’s what happened. So many of you (Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.) have posted and called and emailed me with your warm wishes and prayers during this family trauma period that has absorbed me over the last few weeks, that I’m convinced you made a difference.

The emotional roller coaster is finally slowing down.

The daily episodes of great mental, emotional and physical stress are giving way to what all the doctors and nurses and others involved are now saying was a true miracle.

After racing her unconscious to the ER, followed by two weeks in intensive care including ten days in a coma, literally no one expected to see her survive.

Kathy, my wife of 25 years, is now alive and thriving. With her life hanging by a thread, no one had given her a chance . . . no one except Kathy. It all came down to her and God.

She is –Hallelujah, and thanks be to God– more alive now than she has ever been!

Those who visited her early on, who saw her with tubes in her throat, her nose, her fingers, hands, arms and legs –a medical marionette– with dials,  switches, beeps, graphs and blinking numbers coming from nearly two dozen monitors, do not believe her now. Five days later, she is walking, talking, eating, joking, and remembering details.

But she wasn’t given a chance of even surviving.

And what does this have to do with small business and personal development? Everything. There can be no greater fight than fighting to live. Whether it’s a battle for business survival, or –and I truly hope you never go through what Kathy and I experienced– your life or the life of a loved one, you can never be too prepared.

Like  children getting their value systems in order before the age of five, we need to work hard at cultivating and growing our fortitude, attitude, authenticity, integrity, self-esteem and self-confidence, our spirituality and love for life every day.

Every day. Because –like a fire extinguisher, parachute, healthy body, and alert mind– self-reliance marks a winner.

Kathy is a winner. I am so proud of her, and so grateful for what one doctor called her “absolutely astonishing will power.” From this perspective of reality, I have decided to continue with my blog posts on a two or three times a week basis, instead of daily, as it’s pretty much been since April, 2008. Life is simply too important.

Thank you, all my thousands of blog visitors and Twitter friends. You are amazing!

I will hope to keep hosting your visits here two or three days a week. God Bless You. 

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!