You got ideas?

You’re ready to trade in

that corporate career?

Don’t be too quick!

Created by cover-your-butt, tunnel-visioned corporate types, who are busy going nowhere, the “Small Business Career Trap” puts a stranglehold on reentry to the corporate world once someone has “defected to small business life. It’s like deportation. Change your mind? Oh, no, that’s not allowed. Make a come-back? No way, José!

“Tunnel-visioned”? Well, sure– because the assumption behind that label is that you can play either football OR baseball, not both, and that once you switch sports, you can nevermore capture the credibility in the field of expertise you left behind. Ridiculous? Of course. Michael Jordan isn’t the only athlete to master multiple sports.

The kind of corporate mentality narrowmindedness that fosters (and nurtures) this kind of thinking discounts the wealth of unique contributions a small business-experienced individual can potentially make to stimulate the prevailing lethargy of so much corporate life.

And paradoxical, don’t you think, that the attitude strikes at the heart of the very same types of entrepreneurial contributions that no doubt accounted for launching every corporate entity to begin with?

As long as the political climbers at corporate giants refuse to honor the value of small business experience, and continue to fail to take advantage of the opportunities to integrate and cultivate more entrepreneurial spirit in their organizations, there is little hope that the big boys of business will ever favorably affect the economy.

And adventuresome entrepreneurial wannabe’s need to accept the reality

that big business-to-small business career moves probably have no return route.

This can be pretty disconcerting whenever you (the traitor) reach the point in small business (and you surely will) of realizing you are indeed smarter and more talented than corporate counterparts, MBAs and all.

It will become transparently clear that you could bring greater success to corporate productivity and profitability pursuits than people presently responsible for achieving these goals. Nonetheless, if no one will open the door, your only choice may be to return home and keep looking (Good Luck!) or break the door down.

Not many welcome mats are

laid out for forceable entry.

Will this ever change?

Short of revolution, it’s not likely.

If you should have any doubts, by the way, that corporate mindsets are so deeply entrenched in fears of recruiting and hiring entrepreneurial thinkers and doers, just scroll through some corporate help wanted ads. Find just one that addresses small business expertise, a sense of urgency, and the ability to respond and adjust. Good luck again!

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Hal@Businessworks.US   931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

What do workaholics,

delusionists, and grieving

friends and relatives

all have in common?

 Why is it that the people who are most in need of breaking out of their workaholic patterns are the ones most resistant to the suggestion? They’re afraid to let go. Well, logically, it makes sense. Fear is the single most destructive emotion (and sometimes, paradoxically, greatest motivator) in existence.

Letting go is life’s single hardest task.

Workaholics share this infamous platform with those who live in delusion as well as those who grieve the loss of loved ones. Letting go means giving up an important part of yourself in favor of moving on, or back into, reality. Many egotistically, and sadly, are convinced that the world and their business could not survive without them.

“Sadly,” because these same people will almost inevitably drive themselves into cardiac care units… or the grave… using the excuse as a rationale that they “never gave up the ship!” It’s a lot like being mentally retarded (and having a daughter who is, I can say this with some authority). The single difference is the awareness of having a choice!

Never-say-die workaholics

 simply choose not to choose.

They know they have a choice, but feel threatened by the idea of changing horses in mid-stream. So they instead invest themselves in maintaining the status quo at all costs. Or, as world renown family therapist Virginia Satir used to say, “they get dried up and shrivel up.”

And, Satir goes on to ask: “Don’t you think this affects the growth of their families and that of those who work with them?” See for yourself. Status quo seekers are everywhere, harboring pain and misery, and transferring their own inadequacies and choices not to choose to change.

How dim the lights that light these lives. How stagnant the businesses they run. How rebellious the children they raise. Choosing situations and leaders who make the choices for them . . . how unfulfilled the lives they live.

This picture is bleak indeed, and it permeates many corners of the corporate and union worlds and government universe but, thankfully, has rarely become the payoff of hard work and self-sacrifice that many entrepreneurs practice. How is that? Because most entrepreneurs play and sleep as hard as they work.

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Hal@Businessworks.US  

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Think “Shrink”!

Are you a basket case business owner?

but think about

where you are.

We watched a blind man’s yellow Lab thread his master through the parking lot and into the giant retail outlet, through electronic doors and deftly around an oblivious woman who appeared cast in stone, at one with her shopping cart … surely not about to move.

The man and his companion worked their way around obstacles, displays, counters, other shoppers. They passed so briskly and so seemingly self-assured that only a few passerby even noticed just one pair of color-blind canine eyes leading three pair of legs.

But we did. And in a mere matter of seconds after the man’s best friend and the man were devoured by store traffic, my mind snapped to attention from its visual tracking trance and realized we had been witness to a man with no eyes. Mine began to fill with tears. Maybe it was being sad for him, or grateful for me, or simply the season, but …

All my weaknesses, complaints and woes went quickly off into space as I closed my eyes and considered for just a moment what my life would be like without ever or ever again seeing a crepe myrtle in full bloom, the ocean, a blue heron following with its body its spindly silent legs as it creeps along the shore, a laughing toddler, deep woods, a frolicking litter of puppies, snow-topped mountains, my family, a book, works of art, lightening, swooping seagulls, my toothbrush, a roaring fireplace, faces, a Christmas tree…

Who could possibly want a Christmas present who has full use of vision after seeing someone who does not?

So, I am left to conclude

that Christmas is truly not

about either giving or receiving.

Christmas is instead about consciousness-raising, celebration, self-renewal, and setting out once again on our annual trek to make the most of what we do already have, to better ourselves and the lives of those around us.

Christmas is a gentle wake-up call to remember we are here to make a difference on this planet, one day at a time, to focus on making what’s possible happen. Christmas is a time for melancholy, yes, but also for introspection. We remember that we have within each of us the ability to choose the pathways that make existence on Earth as worthy as what lives in the riches of our souls.

Here’s what I’ve learned (often the hard way, mind you) so here’s what I have to share: In both business and in life, watch where you’re going, but always think about where you are. Be grateful for all that is yours, and continue your work to grow your business so you can help others from a position of strength … because the greatest gift of all is love wrapped up in charity.

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Visit tomorrow night for Hal’s annual classic story

Christmas In Ireland

God Bless You One And All

And Merry Christmas To You!

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to your SELF?

Those who talked to themselves were once considered out of step with reality, and those who out-loud answered their own questions were thought to be in urgent need of psychoanalysis… or a straitjacket.. perhaps even a lobotomy, like in the gruesome 1450s in England. But today? You’re in luck!

Judge-and-jury assessments like this obviously don’t include entrepreneurs. After all, you probably talk to yourself at least hourly, and carry a lifetime reputation for being crazy. I mean, how else could you still be good enough to be in business in this staggering leaderless economy?

When you decide to become an entrepreneur,

you necessarily choose to also become your

own (often lonesome) sounding board.  

You should know, by the way, I’m not trying to put a damper on your rants and raves and ongoing mutterings. Those activities, in fact, can be stress-reducing in and of themselves, and serve the purpose of clearing your head — something like a wet retriever shaking off water while standing on your foot! (Had that experience, eh?)

What I am suggesting is that you add to your self-talk repertoire, a bunch of other self-oriented and self-focused actions — like trusting your SELF and appreciating your SELF and recognizing your SELF-uniqueness.

Yeah, but that borders on being selfish, doesn’t it? And don’t we all know that selfish behavior is not a good thing for society, our planet, our personal long-term value? Absolutely. But I’m not speaking of self-aggrandizement. I am addressing the basic life and business success need — to be oriented toward one’s SELF.

Calling it selfish or not doesn’t matter. It’s what your purpose and intentions are all about that really count. When we can be oriented toward our selves in our thoughts and actions, we can be –among other things– more aware of the needs of others, and how we might best be able to help meet or fill those needs in addition to our own.

Selfishness in this respect also tips our internal scales in favor of a more improved, more productive and balanced state of mental and emotional health.

The more we appreciate and value our SELVES and our uniqueness’s, the more we tend to respect the uniqueness’s of others, and the more effective we can become at improving our pathways toward self-sufficiency, self-determination, and the all-important life quality that traditional schools fail to teach: self-esteem.

So the thin line to walk is being able to keep humility and let go of egotism while nurturing self-respect and fostering self-development through increased self-awareness. A high-wire act? If you choose to make it difficult on your self, it is… and it will be. But the choice is yours. And NOW is the time to act! Good luck!

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!