Powerwash Your

Business Deck!

Now’s as good a time as any to clear out the cobwebs, mold, and dead bugs. Get your powerwasher out, hook up the hose and start waving that magic wand! But, aaah, you’re a free-swinging entrepreneur and all of a sudden the reality hits that to make a powerwasher work requires methodical and determined action–not exactly your modus operandi, eh?

But taking a methodical approach to cleaning is really the only way to make things clean, whether it’s a room, a carpet, the shower, or your business enterprise. Start by taking a hard look at the messages your business is communicating. Are you saying what you truly want the rest of the world to associate with you and your products/ services/ name/ reputation?

I’ll address human resources, operations, finances and other entrepreneurial concerns in subsequent posts, but first and foremost, small business owners must always be reassessing their brand and theme line. These are the most important tools a business has, and neither can remain stagnant. Change is what today’s business world is all about.

The horizon is constantly moving.

Targets, objectives, and goals used to be stationary, but no more. You need to be checking up on yourself at least once a month because what you were aiming for twenty or thirty days ago could be long gone by now. Don’t think you’re immune. It’s not just computers and smart phones running rampant . . . it’s people’s attitudes. TEST where you’re going.

Your customers and prospects THINK differently today (and faster!) than they did a year ago, a month ago, a week ago. The pace of life is more frantic. The business of building a business is more hectic. The messages your business is sending out can be obsolete before you even get them printed or onto Twitter. How will you know? Diligence and your powerwasher!

Force yourself to add quick-fix reviews of your branding efforts to your monthly lineup of checklist tasks. Put it right next to assessing your cash flow. If it’s time for a change, consider professional marketing writer input. Sometimes the fix is as quick and simple as changing just a word or two. Other times, a whole new strategy is needed. Professionals do both daily.

Struggle with revisions and updates yourself if you like, but you may want to ask yourself if you might be more productive focused on sales or operations or investor funding? Oh, and outsiders bring fresh perspectives to your table.

What’s important is your vigilance.

# # #

FREE blog subscription Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0116

E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P . . .

Need A Crowbar

to Separate

Business

From Personal???

If your answer is YES, you are probably an entrepreneur. You probably make yourself so busy that the line between personal and business interests is as inexorably blurred as cataract vision, right? Well, there is hope, and no, it doesn’t have to be laser surgery!

In good times, it’s called “vacation,” and since that probably hasn’t been the case in five years, you may want to call it “taking breaks.” Don’t look so scornful. Taking frequent breaks has been proven to actually increase productivity.

The most successful of two small business owners, for example, doing the same kind of work in the same number of hours, will be the one who takes regular breaks . . . start with not eating lunch at your desk, and getting up and walking around more. Stretching your arms, legs, back and neck is always rewarding. (Try it with your speaker phone on!)

Taking breaks is not an activity that should be limited to leaders or followers, to teams or individuals, to owners or partners or operators or coffeeholics. If you’re a human being, you need breaks in the action! If you’re not a human being, and you’re reading this, contact me immediately (phone and email below) — we can make a lot of money together!

When you’re vaguely aware of getting too fat, too skinny, too lightheaded, too clumsy, too disoriented, too mean-spirited, too ANYthing — before you race off to the doctor, make sure it’s not simply a case of failing to give your body and mind more attention than the tasks at hand. Tasks won’t get done right without being mentally and physically alert.

Looking for “how-to’s”? Put small reminder notes to yourself in your face . . . on mirrors, your wristwatch, your cellphone, your briefcase, your dashboard, your wallet: “BREATHE” or “STRETCH” or “EXERCISE” or “EAT BETTER” or “TAKE A WALK” or “PLAY MORE” — whatever works for you! Ask someone close to you to prompt you, or give you wake-up calls!

Entrepreneurs have a way of muddying up their internal fluids because they believe that they ARE their businesses and if they stop, the businesses stop. This of course is true at many levels, but not overall, and not all the time, and not nearly as much as small business owners and operators lead themselves to believe.

When in doubt, try it. What have you got to lose by taking a couple more breaks every day? Stress? Well . . . 

# # #

FREE blog subscription Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0116

Mom and Pop Businessess

Are Alive and Well In

Every Industry

and Marketplace

Because so many entrepreneurial ventures are launched, or brought on by, or result in hardworking people who also share a couple relationship (and because the marriage and work relationship I had with my wife lasted over 25 years), it seemed appropriate to devote a post to the subject. Maybe a couple of experience points here can benefit others?

• FIRST: If you are in a love/work relationship and not killing each other every night, congratulations and God Bless You! You have somehow managed (or are at least still managing) to beat the odds. Being the spouse of a business owner or the spouse who is the brains behind the business owner (or are an involved but not-married business couple!) makes you special!

Very few relationships can withstand the attack on emotional, rational, and physical sensibilities that are brought on by the stress of running a business together, while living under the same roof. It’s important to stay “here-and-now” as much as possible. Have flexible, specific, realistic, due-dated goals (and write them down!), but remain focused on the present.

RELY ON HUMOR.

It takes a special way of relating to one another that requires greater sensitivity and sense of purpose than  a typical marriage where one or both partners leave the home each morning and return each night. I have often counseled to paint a line around the bedroom doorway and threshold beyond which, business discussions are not allowed . . . and communicate, communicate, communicate! Listen, listen, listen!

• SECOND: Extreme trust and extreme sacrifice are the two characteristics of successful work/love relationships that cannot be compromised under any circumstances . . . ever! The temptations will be endless, but violating your love/work partner’s trust or not pulling your share of the load spell instant business failure, and often instant relationship failure too!

This distills down to being constantly conscious of not putting yourself in situations that could undermine the well-being of either your work or emotional relationship. Don’t go out partying on your own. Don’t hang out at bars or strip-clubs or trade show suites when you’re on business trips. Don’t wear provocative outfits when you’re on the road or attending meetings. Making a business and a relationship work at the same time requires integrity.

In other words, don’t ask for trouble

 because you’ll surely find it.

Working couples need to accept that friction will always be present. The trick is to work at making it be positive and productive friction. It takes far greater tolerance, patience and understanding than a non-working-together-couple relationship. The trade-off is that working couples–two people with one mindset–are almost always more effective and successful than flying solo.

# # #

FREE blog subscription Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0116

“The entrepreneur is

essentially a visualizer

and an actualizer.

He sees exactly

how to make it happen.”

 — ROBERT L. SCHWARTZ, Founder, The New School for Entrepreneurs

When I “graduated” from what was once The New School for Entrepreneurs in Tarrytown, New York, it was with my feet on the ground and my head in the clouds. I had the entrepreneurial success idea of all time percolating in my professorial brain all during the program’s intensive retreat-style weekends, but could bring only a Fortune 500 corporate background to the table.

I came away from the Entrepreneurs program experience with lots of material to weave into the college classes I was teaching. I came away with a better understanding of who I was and what I was all about, and that I was “an entrepreneur” of sorts for being so hellbent on making ideas work (and not the weirdo I was sometimes accused of being).

I ended up creating and copyrighting “Corporate Entrepreneurs” and “Doctorpreneurs.” I used what I learned to help start hundreds of successful businesses.

I learned that the Entrepreneur does not fit any definition. But being one usually means you share a number of characteristics and traits evidenced by other entrepreneurs.

• You are first and foremost a catalyst of society.
• In your own–usually underestimated–way, you are a “mover and shaker.”
• You possess the unique combination of vision and follow-through.
• You take reasonable risks.

You are the key —the secret— ingredient that’s missing in corporate think-tanks, and in every level of government.

A true entrepreneur running the U.S. Postal Service, for example, would be competing head-to-head with FedEx and UPS instead of folding up sidewalk mailboxes, cutting back offices, hours, and work schedules and raising prices. You would know that you have the world’s greatest address delivery database and network, and you’d figure out how to take over the world of email.

But what entrepreneur in her or his right mind would want to spend a lifetime untangling a 237-year-old pile of knots?

Entrepreneurship is not dead. It is lurking.

Entrepreneurs are sitting quietly in the shadows watching and waiting for the ever-dwindling opportunities that earmark today’s economic quagmire to show some signs of life. Entrepreneurship-driven activities are on hold waiting for revitalized and more encouraging government responses. Entrepreneurs are waiting for renewed trust in government representation.

• Who, after all, wants to initiate (or pay for) an innovative new business venture that gets over-taxed and over-regulated before it even gets its startup feet wet?

Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial spirit will rise again. And when they do, they will usher in a new “Age of Enterprise” unlike any we have ever known. And besides revolutionizing the Internet and smart-phone worlds, part of the fallout will be that the U.S. Postal Service will no longer exist. Another part will be a new sense of self-enlightenment!

What are YOU doing now

to ensure that your business survives and thrives?

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US

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.

# # #

FREE blog subscription Posts RSS Feed

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!

# # #

FREE blog subscription Posts RSS Feed

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.

# # #

FREE blog subscription Posts RSS Feed

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.

# # #

FREE blog subscription Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0116

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.

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

Higher impact. Lower costs.

——————-

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

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.

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US   931.854.0474