“Awk! My blog

is flogged!”

     Some of you who know me well know I maintain a fairly relentless (accusations of compulsion are sometimes hinted) fast-lane pace for a 200 year-old entrepreneur and business coach. But the last few days, fallout from Mr. Gore’s global warming warning took the starch out of me. Blessed as we were at our home and office, with 30 inches of snow (8-10 more en route) — more than we’d seen since NW Maine — Kathy and I were stoically committed to tough it out with boots and shovels at the ready.

     But then, like Hannah with Montana and bacon with eggs, along came the snowstorm’s accompaniment: 4.5 days of no electricity at 40 degrees inside! And a State state-of-emergency of course (declared by a irrevocably Europe-bound governor!). Foreign leaders no doubt outweighed the fate of the State … and my blog, which by now, was flogged!

     Part of me was in something of a panic mode because I had no contingency plan about how to continue conducting business in a blizzard. [Who woulda thunk an area with no more than a rare broom-sweep worth of snow over most of the past 30 years could be this, now?] I’m also reminded of riding out a hurricane and power outage when I was a dumb young professor living aboard my boat in a stormy marina.

     None of this may seem to have much business application, but — actually — contingency and succession-planning come to mind. Most entrepreneurs, I believe it’s fair to say, never consider worst-case scenarios and alternative plans if the central thrust of their venture fails to ignite. 

     And fewer still, I think, ever consider what will happen to their ventures if anything happens to them. [This thought admittedly rose to the surface after my third round of driveway shoveling in three days.]

     Odds are that not a majority of entrepreneurs will have been successful Girl or Boy Scouts, and so may lack some of that “Be Prepared” discipline. Plus, who likes to entertain his or her inevitable demise or consider being sidelined by accidental injury? The point is that it is as wise a set of considerations as drawing up a will, or planning for retirement or marriage or children, or purchasing insurance policies.

     The positives of entrepreneurship are that most small and new business ventures are undertaken by young, energetic types. The negatives of contingency and succession planning are that most young energetic types are too young and energetic to consider their own mortality, OR that any business problem that arises could possibly be beyond their capacity to control.

     Accept this as myth, and think about it. It doesn’t take much more to come up with an effective take-over and emergency action plan to make sure your business, your family, and your employees and customers are cared for. 

     So back to being snowed in and powered out: I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of business and life with a renewed sense of appreciation for all that I have and for what it must be like to not have those things. Do I sound mushy grateful? Maybe it’s because I am.

Comment below Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US 

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone!  

Is Your Business

A Headcase?

The word therapy may sound ominous to the business mind. It evokes the specter of illness, or worse, of craziness. That should not be. Therapy is part of education. Therapy teaches us through personal experience about who we are and how we became that way. Therapy teaches us how personal responsibility plays a role in who we are. Therapy teaches us how we relate to others and how important other people are in the conduct of our lives. And therapy helps us claim our freedom and take charge of our lives. These are all elements of growing up and getting a complete education.”

     If this seems like a strange and out-of-place subject for you, let me assure you that it is extremely relevant. Why? Because every business –like every human– has problems to solve that have been created and nurtured internally. And, more often than not, a great many of these are denied and consciously or inadvertently glossed over by the boss.

     If you were to distill down all my years of diverse career experiences into one defining function, it would be that I have been a reality therapist to businesses. Powerful corporate executives, entrepreneurs, sales and healthcare professionals alike have called me in the middle of the night, reduced to tears. They have called on the verge of lighting fuses to blow up their businesses.

     I’ve seen business temper tantrums where filled file folders, office equipment, and even scalpels were flung in rage across offices and into doors. Because businesses that needed therapy, that were being run by owners and managers who refuted the need for it, had no place else to bury upsets but inside the troubled stressed-out minds of their leaders.

     Every person and every business, I believe, can benefit by some degree of professional therapy engagement at some point, perhaps continuously, in their lives. Therapy need not be as threatening or embarrassing as Hollywood would have us believe, nor as intimidating as the naysayers around us claim.

     The truth is therapy can be extremely enlightening, masterfully empowering, and a magnet for improved mental, physical, and emotional good health — the secret keys to increased sales!                  

     It may be useful to pause here and be reminded that the feelings of being threatened, embarrassed, and intimidated –like those feelings of enlightenment, empowerment, and improved health — are all behaviors and all behaviors are choices. Why choose negative over positive? Because of some fear? If the fear is not genuine, realistic, and physical, it is imagined; it is fantasy; it is also a choice!

     Many businesses fail because the leaders operate under a self-fulfilling prophecy that a business is beyond repair and nothing can be done to save it. The economy. The bank. The landlord. Lousy sales. Lazy employees. Products or services without real benefits or competitive advantages. No future. Poor track-record. They fail.

     The fix? Hire an informed, experienced, fresh, outside perspective to shrink out your business and coach your leaders.

     Savvy business owners and managers recognize that the business needs to be considered a living, breathing organism, and treated as if it were a separate individual entity apart from the paperwork, computer files, and physical workspace.

     In this context, business therapy can be a healthy and productive intervention capable of turning problems into opportunities. The distance from survive to thrive is measured in receptive leadership that’s willing to explore and innovate.

Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US 

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Are You A Cereal Entrepreneur

Or A Serial Entrepreneur?

Special thanks to Doyle Slayton at www.XOOMBI.com for the inspiration   

In case no one’s put their hand on your shoulder and whispered in your ear for awhile: Psssssst! Life (even business life) isn’t about being a serial killer no matter what you do with, for, or to yourself!

     Think you could name a few prominent athletes, a few Hollywood types, a few businesspeople (maybe even a cousin?) who’ve overplayed their killer instincts and thinking they could do whatever they wanted — whenever and wherever they wanted — to the point of crashing their lives into a wall? Daily news reports will help joggle your brain.

     Serial Entrepreneurs are no different. They charge from one venture to another with nothing in the cross-hairs of their sites but dollar signs. And they simply don’t succeed in life. Thankfully, these profiles are not the majority.

     Unfortunately though, when economic times are tough, there’s a mad rush into the marketplace from those who’ve been cut out or cut back at work to think the grass looks greener on the work-from-home side of the fence and they will typically hurry into a venture they’ve convinced themselves looks promising and plunk their savings into a startup.

     Most of these gold-rush fever serial types will end up making their situations worse than when they started. Why? Because growing and running a business is physically, mentally, financially, and emotionally exhausting. It’s a total brain drain (not to mention the slimming of your wallet).

     I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but I’ve learned as most do, the hard way.

     Fortunately, most entrepreneurs act instinctively on their burning desires to achieve something of consequence with the ideas they usher into the marketplace. Getting rich on an idea is not the reason for the pursuit. Making a difference is what counts. Making something happen. 

     If you’ve been fortunate to have inherited entrepreneurial traits, or have learned them from experience, a friend or family member, or through a legitimate hands-on training or academic environment, Bless You! Why?

     Because YOU are one of the people destined to make a difference in both the world and in this economy. YOU are one of the people most likely to build your idea to the point of creating new jobs. And YOU are one of the people who will lead your followers to achieve.

     How can you tell if you’re cereal material or serial material? Do you like to taste a little bit of everything? Experience a lot of different business flavors? Are you challenged by that? Do you thrive on taking an idea and seeing it all the way through to the end?

     Or are you just out to make one quick killing after another? If you answered yes to the last question, be honest in asking yourself if you have a track-record of being realistic.   

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Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US 

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

U B wearin 10 yrs?

(Where Will You Be In Ten Years?)

A long weekend with grandchildren beats two years of graduate school for practical small business development input education. It tops all the TV reality shows too! Assuming you can stop long enough to follow the latest WII~iPod~WiFi~Skype~Twitter~Facebook~Skiff~Kindle~YouTube APPS, you may have some sense of tech developments dragging business by the heels across the universe … but you don’t know Jack compared to most 8 year-olds!

• My 8 year-old granddaughter has her own website, illustrates and writes her own books, is into performance ice-skating, and plays on a girl’s basketball team.
• Her 14 year-old sister has her own weekly (sometimes daily) political blog, aspires to a Senate seat in 2026 as a stepping stone to the Supreme Court; she’s on a competitive synchronized ice-skating team.
• Their 12 year-old brother creates his own computer-designed amusement parks and roller coasters in between basketball and soccer team schedules and playing the trumpet in his school band. 

    Ho-hum, so do all kids today do that stuff. They’re all walking Googles with maniac time crunches. ~~~~RIGHT! AndYOU have kids in your life. And what are you learning from them besides that their lives are nothing like ours were when we were their ages. In fact, our existences have probably been closer to our parents’ existences than they’ve been to the lives of our own children … y’think?

     So where on Earth (or beyond) does that leave us with our world of small business when we take a step or two or three down the road apiece? Are we all tangled up in our past issues to the point of missing what’s happening now? Or — equally unhealthy — are we lost in future reveries to the point of missing what’s happening now?

     What keeps us centered and focused on the present? Young children, babies and puppy dogs all seem to possess that certain present, “here and now” sense of awareness, lack of inhibition, lack of preconceived notions or judgments, and — as a result — are able to think and create and innovate with reckless abandon!

     Take a lesson from them. Play on the floor, in the grass. Watch and listen. Let them lead; you follow. Ask and understand. What are they doing that can help you do a better job right now with what you’re doing? If you think that answer is something to sneer at, you may be having a problem with choosing your behavior. Maybe no one has let that be okay for you. Maybe you haven’t let it be okay for yourself! Why should you? Keep reading…

     So, here’s the kicker: Go to this link  http://bit.ly/Bb1Tw  now for 60 seconds; give up that adult resistance thing and put this “here and now” focus tool to work for yourself. Use it to pry open your business eyes and ears a little.

     I’m told by many that it’s changed their lives. Hey, and it’s free. Let me know how reckless you can let your thinking be with that one big problem that’s been making your business crazy. Go on. Tax your imagination. Start with this 60 seconds …   

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 LOOKING FOR LEADERSHIP? See Hal’s 12/30 Guest Blog Post at TBD Consulting’s Jonena Relth’s HIGHLY-RECOMMENDED site http://bit.ly/XhN1h

 WONDERING WHEN NO is Better Than MAYBE? See Hal’s 1/6 Guest Blog Post in BonMot Communications’ Angelique Rewer’s FREE HIGHLY-RECOMMENDED e-zine www.thecorporatecommunicator.net 

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America runs on small business!

Small business runs on

competition.

Competition runs on sales.

     It’s beyond me why no one in government has yet to figure out this relationship, or be able to translate it into the two following, near-unanimous, conclusions by leading national and global experts:

Free market price competition, state-by-state, is the only workable answer to healthcare reform.

Small business sales success is the ticket to job creation, and job creation is the only workable answer to economic recovery.

     I can understand that most politicians have little or no experience in business, but I cannot understand why they so adamantly refuse to acknowledge the truth of the two statements cited above … why they simply cannot deal with the simplicity of each. 

     They have political agendas. Who cares about their political agendas? Do you know anyone who cares about their political agendas? Our economy and our healthcare reform plans are sitting deep in the bottom of the toilet because our elected officials have agendas for self-aggrandizement, self-promotion, and self-preservation.

     Last time I looked, these people lugging around their agendas were supposed to be representing the taxpayers who have hired them. Hmmm, now there’s a unique thought! Just imagine how much would be possible to achieve if elected officials were not preoccupied with protecting their own butts.

     Imagine if politicians actually served those who elected them, instead of pandering to the government agencies, big business entities, and union constituencies who trip over themselves clinging to elected (and bought) coattails, seeking stimulus money to bail out of the holes they’ve dug for themselves.  

     In fact, ask any group of small business owners, and they’ll tell you that that federal and state government leaders are misguided, ill-informed, inexperienced, and completely unrealistic. They are trying to appease small businesses with a ridiculous, unnecessarily and overly-complicated loan program that no small business owner has time to deal with. And who needs a loan now anyway? Why do tax-incentives have to be Rubix Cubes?

     Government is trying to ramrod an unwanted, unworkable, astronomically expensive healthcare reform program down the throats of small business owners, and simultaneously smokescreen the public into thinking it’s in every one’s best interest when it clearly is not.

     Maybe America’s government and corporate giants and unions do run on donuts and promises and paybacks, but America’s small businesses are fueled by genuine competition, authentic innovation and accountable sales. 

• Small business owners know how to reform healthcare with free market enterprise price competition.
• Small business owners know how to fix the broken industrial manufacturing and financial communities with value-adding and innovation instead of cash handouts.
• Small business owners know how to turn the economy around by creating jobs that big business cannot. And frankly, it sucks that the government flat out refuses to give small businesspeople the chance to do these things that government is incapable of achieving.

     Competition makes life work. Sales are both the heart and the fuel of business. And small business is the engine of our economy. Small business owners don’t talk about “downsizing” and “cashing in political chips” and “taking loans to pay loans.”

     Small business ownerstalk about “opportunity costs” and “cashflow” and “innovation” and “asking and listening to their customers.” They equate sports with their businesses and use competitive terms like: Slamdunk! Goal! Hole-in-one! Gamepoint! TKO! Touchdown! Grandslam! to describe their sales efforts!

     Which sounds healthier to you?

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Kiss Staff Infections Bye-Bye!

     By now, all of us know, or have heard (or we believe instinctively) that the majority of hospital deaths are the result of complications compounded or initiated by staph infections. These can be traced back to caregiver professionals and support staff not properly and frequently enough washing their hands. 

     Who woulda thunk it?  Such a simple thing.

     Well, not only is it true, but I believe it’s even truer (though never researched) in business.  It’s no secret that the majority of business failures, corrupted products and ineffective misguided staffs and services come from poor management. 

     Management (even when it’s more task than people-oriented) is all about interfacing, interacting, and encountering.  It’s about keeping a clear and receptive mindset.  Open doors open minds! SO WASH YOUR HANDS!  

     Now I’m not talking about hot water, soap, scrubbing and towel drying.  I’m talking about:

1. Closing your eyes for just 10 seconds (perhaps 5 if you’re telemarketing, and not at all if you’re driving!) before and after every customer/employee/vendor/investor encounter,
2. Taking a deep breath http://bit.ly/Bb1Tw (to focus and maintain blood pressure) and
3. Mentally (imagining yourself) washing your hands, like a doctor between examinations. 

     For many who try or maintain this practice, it helps to go through a 2-3 second physical action of briskly rubbing your hands together.  The action sends a reinforcing mental message to your brain.

     Do it before and after EVERY meeting, conference, phone call, email, letter, overnight delivery, and text message exchange, you are after all being a doctor, aren’t you? 

     You ARE examining, aren’t you? 

     You ARE listening, exploring, considering, assessing, recommending, deciding, weighing, evaluating, checking and re-checking, sizing up, assuring and reassuring, projecting, planning, strategizing, and predicting, aren’t you?

     And what happens to your brain when you’re on the fly and go straight from one encounter to another without –it sometimes seems– even breathing?  Go on, answer this last question.  I’ll wait.  Okay, and how does that stress translate to your body? 

     Headaches, backaches, toothaches, stiff neck, upset stomach, constipation, diarrhea, short temper, edginess, leg cramps, burning eyes, skin rash, urinary infection, or worse — cancer, heart problems?  Bottom line: is it worth it? 

     TRY THIS 10-SECOND APPROACH for just one week –January, 2010, is a perfect test period.  Try it and see what happens. 

     Here’s what you’ll get:  IF you’re honest with yourself and IF you actually follow the prescription, you will be more tuned in to each person you communicate with; you will be noticeably more productive; you will GUARANTEED feel better – mentally, physically, and emotionally; you will more positively affect others around you. 

     Put “WASH YOUR HANDS” reminder notes on a sign over your desk, stuck to your phone and computer screen.  Ask a co-worker, friend or associate to ask you: “Did you wash your hands?” before and after you turn a doorknob, before and after you lift and replace your phone, start or end your meeting . . . improvise here; just keep making the effort. 

     You will, I promise, astound yourself! 

More on 2010 “LEADERSHIP”? Come visit me and comment on my Guest Blog post at TBD Consulting’s Jonena Relth’s site http://bit.ly/XhN1h

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Throw Up. Clean Up. Sit Up. Step Up!

     1. It’s that time. Dump Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Schumer (and all the other big misguided tax and spend abusers who are killing small business) into your trash bin. Rid yourself of all the 2009 stress, upsets, ill-feelings, lost sales, financial worries, ego-maniacal do-noting politicians and half-hearted employee efforts by simply throwing up!

     Go ahead; get it over with; tickle your throat; I’ll wait.

     Done? Good. Next…

     2. Clean up the mess. While you’re at it, clean up your email files, your desk, your accumulated piles of paper, your truck, business cards, and phone messages. If there’s any time left, attack your most discombobulated file.

     Then…

     3. Sit up! Look around and make sure your work setting and all first impression views, items, furnishings, windows, equipment, and signs are glistening and free of clutter and performing at optimum level. You’ll never get a second chance at a first 2010 impression!

     Finally…

     4. Step up to the plate and get a good grip on the bat. Prepare to send the next pitch flying into the centerfield stands. Also, write your 2010 goals down on paper (you know, with a pen!) and make sure each goal is specific, flexible, realistic and due-dated.

     Remember that — no matter what your business is — your integrity and your people are your greatest assets. And remember too that you have what it takes to achieve your goals. It’s all about choice. Choose to make it happen. Choose 2010 to be your year!

To all my great friends and blog visitors:

My very best wishes for you that 2010 is the happiest, healthiest, most prosperous year ever for you and your families! Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Year!

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More on 2010 “LEADERSHIP”? Come visit me and comment on my Guest Blog post at TBD Consulting’s Jonena Relth’s site http://bit.ly/XhN1h

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Happy Christmas

Recovery Time!

     SO … Answer these 10 questions for yourself about your SELF, and then answer the same 10 for your BUSINESS.

     If you are totally honest with yourself about your SELF and with yourself about your BUSINESS, you will positively gain some important insight!

•      What didn’t work this past year? (Not “why?” which may take another year to answer)

•      And what, pray-tell, is working NOW? 

•      What needs to be eliminated? 

•      What will work going forward? 

•      What needs to be reevaluated?  

•      What needs to be fixed?  Adjusted?  

•      Completely overhauled? 

•      What needs to be attempted? 

•      What needs to be planned? 

     Remember, this is YOUR business and YOUR self we’re talking about here, so ONLY YOU can decide where to go next and ONLY YOU can choose how to get there. ONLY YOU know the real answers to all the questions about growing your self and your business! 

     And you can take hours researching and surveying, but the bottom line is –dear entrepreneur, dear business owner and manager– that in the end, YOU must charge forward by experience, instinct, and informed subjective judgement. 

     YOU must take REASONABLE risks to improve your SELF and your BUSINESS!

     What you choose as a course of action may be wrong, but:

A. SOME action is always better than no action, and

B. YOU are the captain of your ship, and YOU can adjust the course you’re taking at any hour of the day or night. Or, simply put into port for a short lay-over to get yourself more focused. Just choose what you want  (since all behavior is a choice!). 

     No excuses here. You need to be your own consultant. Step back. Take some deep breaths (For your SELF, for your BUSINESS, for your SPORTS performance, for your SALESMANSHIP, for your LIFE!) Oh, and after you breathe, get hopping! 

     The New Year’s bell is ready to ring. Are you ready to run? Have a Happy! 

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Tapping Feet Tap

Untapped Potential

—–Take Note Owners, Managers, and Sales Professionals—– 

     Any good coach will tell you that nervousness is often a good source of energy that can be productively channeled.

     Stress is not always negative. Positive stress is required to be able to read this right now, to sit in a chair without falling off, to make love and excel in sports (well, okay, maybe not at the same time!), to talk on the phone … even, btw, txt msg!

     When stress, however, becomes negative … when it reaches a point of dis-stress or over-stress, it becomes physically, mentally, and emotionally unhealthy … often taking the high-risk leap from nonproductive to COUNTER-productive. It can quickly suck unsuspecting others into the whirlpool it creates.  

NOTE: Holidays are a primary cause of both negative and positive stress. To be better equipped to manage your holiday stress effectively, and keep it tipping to the “plus” side, go here for a 60-second quick fix:  http://bit.ly/Bb1Tw

     When you observe a customer or employee tapping feet (or other extremities), odds are (almost universally) that the individual does not want to be where she or he is, and is anxious to get out of the room or extract her or himself from the present situation.

     When you observe this, acknowledge the anxieties attached to the circumstances — show some put-yourself-in-their-shoes empathy (unless their shoes are by this time, really clicking away recklessly, in which case you may want to 911 a podiatrist!) —  and suggest an option like:

“Why don’t we take a break here and…”

“Let’s think on that subject for a little bit and talk about this other issue…”

     Like a speaker who’s focused on shifting verbal gears in order to prompt defensive arms-crossed listeners to “unfold” arms and rest their hands more receptively at their sides or on the table, you need to try out different thought directions.

     See if you can get the tappingto subside without calling attention to it. Raising someone’s consciousness about her or his nervousness can make that person even more jittery.

The more the tap subsides, the less you need to dance!

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Yes, but are you happy?

     Survey findings based on 2009 data collected from 1.3 million Americans (by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) report — state-by-state, plus D.C. — identify where the happiest people live.

BEST/HAPPIEST STATES 

#1 – #6: Louisiana, Hawaii, Florida, Tennessee, Arizona, South Carolina.

WORST/UNHAPPIEST STATES 

#46 – #51: California, New Jersey, Indiana, Michigan, Connecticut, New York. 

     If you can’t stand waiting ’til the end of this post to find out where your state stands, I’ll give you the whole scoop right here, right now, but you have to promise to return after you find out whether you’re supposed to be happy or not, so you can get some free happiness guidance! Here. Do it!  . . . and when you’re done, ‘Mon Back!

     Welcome back! So are you happy now? Or did that little side trip just make things worse for you? Well, the survey findings are probably a useful thing for helping to target your sales message geographically.

    I mean you could probably send some angry messages into Louisiana, Florida and Hawaii, for example, and get back a lot of knowing smiles with piles of sales dollars. But you may not want to be so cavalier when you’re aiming at those sad souls in New York, Connecticut and Michigan.

     Hey, truth is that no matter who says what you’re supposed to be experiencing, happiness — like any other behavior — is a choice! Consciously or unconsciously, each of us choose our behaviors every minute of every day! And, like success, happiness is the journey, not the destination.

     Of course some states with more sunshine might do a better job of hosting the journey, or setting the table for our choices, but nothing and no one outside your mind creates or causes happiness or unhappiness. And where you live has very little to do with it. 

     Surely you know there’s truth to the old expression that “Misery Loves Company.” But, btw, so does “Happiness” and you need only look at faces around you at one of your upcoming parties to underscore that reality.

     The only gift greater than happiness is sharing happiness. Try it. You’ll like it.

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

 “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!