CONNECT THE DOTS . . .

#1.  It has been proven conclusively and repeatedly that job creation is the only pathway to economic recovery, growth and stability.

•  Federal statistics released this week demonstrate that U.S. jobless rates continue to rise. The value of the dollar continues to fall.
•  None of this matters to you? If you run a small business, it should. And what follows may matter even more to you.

 #2.  America’s entrepreneurs constitute this nation’s “agent of change” talent pool. Entrepreneurial ventures now account for over 30 million small businesses in the U.S.

 #3.  The overwhelming majority of new jobs in the U.S. is — and has always been — created by small business.

 #4.  The federal government – with no business experience at any level — has been giving staggering amounts of cash handouts to big business, which creates virtually no new jobs.

 #5.  Federal civil servants (which is a nice way of saying “people who haven’t an ounce of entrepreneurial spirit or savvy, and probably haven’t a single innovative hair on their bodies”) received an average pay and benefits in 2009 [according to a USA TODAY analysis reported today] of $123,049. The average private sector worker earned $61,051 total.

Where’s the incentive?

Misplaced of course. And why would you not look to a federal employment career where you can make twice as much money as you could by working for a private business? You’d have to be crazy!

On the other hand, maybe you believe in yourself (not a common characteristic among federal employees . . . except for those who hold elective office).

Maybe you actually believe in the spirit of America, and don’t care about being disregarded, dismissed and just plain dissed. You think it’s time to take a stand for small business? You either do or you don’t.

If you don’t, you’re clearly in favor of providing bailouts to corporate giants and gargantuan financial support programs for totally useless federal ventures that – like most federal civil servant position compensation plans – simply drain the economy and put nothing back in. Is that what you went into business for?

Brain surgery certification is not a prerequisite for being able to understand that small business represents America’s only viable economic solution, and that continued reckless spending to underwrite federal and corporate pursuits is not the answer.

It’s a safe bet that any small business owner could easily and realistically $100 million in totally wasted spending inside of a ten-minute interview. Start with federal employee salaries!

 “The average federal salary

                                         

[according to USA TODAY],

                                

“has grown 33 percent faster

                                 

than inflation since 2000. . . 

                                      

and pays an average of 20

                                       

percent more than private

                                 

firms for comparable

                            

occupations.”

Federal workers are overpaid. Period.

Oh, and what are they overpaid WITH? Tax dollars of course. And how many of those tax dollars come from honest, hard-working, small business entities? Connect the dots.

Does it frustrate you to have your business growth and job creation opportunities be constantly limited and handcuffed, be over-regulated and over-taxed by politicians who are supposed to be representing you?

Does it undermine the very existence of your business to have to answer to politicians who are not business-minded, have no sense of business, do nothing to stimulate a competitive environment in the marketplace, and just don’t get it?                                                                                                    

 If these situations bother you, there are two important things you can do:

 1) Put your business into overdrive

. . . and develop more innovative and more economical ways to market your products and services, and to attract and reward and appreciate your customers.

 2) Start taking steps on your own behalf

. . . and on behalf of restoring this nation’s economy, by working with others in your industry, profession and community to replace those who spend what you earn on initiatives designed to hold you down, so they can spend even more of what you earn.  

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

“You must be very

  proud of yourself!”

“No, I own a business

and I have a life!”

Self-pride can, and almost always does, get in the way of progress — and even survival!

Self-pride. Now isn’t that like stubbornness? “Stop being so stubborn,” my stubborn mother used to say, “it’s gonna get you in trouble. People care about you as a person and they respect what you’ve accomplished, but no body cares about your honor except you   . . . not even me!”

So, yes, I am the son of a wise mother.

As a management consultant and entrepreneur coach for many years, I’ve seen my share of business and life failures. Research studies always point parental fingers to “being under-capitalized” as symptomatic of poor management and the key reason for business failure.

But rarely does anyone look beyond “poor management” being the ultimate culprit to see what else is lurking in the shadows . . . what else is there to account for business and life failures?

Someone should be looking. Why?

Because at the end of this fraying personal and business lifeline is a very heavy anchor that is best categorized as self-pride. It’s something that happens when you choose to get sidetracked from your business and life pursuits, to deal with some imagined threat to your ego.

You put day-to-day operations off to the side to entangle yourself in a legal suit that you know you’re right about just to gloat in satisfaction at having humiliated an annoying competitor, or to realize a thousand dollars payoff after legal expenses.

How much business is lost in the process of your ego-indulging diversions?

The minute the sidetracking starts, it has a tendency (like An object in motion tends to stay in motion) to snowball itself into an avalanche. And it doesn’t take long (sometimes just minutes!) to get to the point of completely immobilizing growth and survival modes.

In minor role applications, the sidetracking diverts needed attention from goal pursuits, family well-being, and from business and career opportunities and success.

Turning your spotlight inward takes the focus away from where you’re headed, and when it gets dark — you’re bound to trip over or run into some thing. You may or may not get up, or be able to.

In major role applications of this sidetracking, businesses go bankrupt, couples get divorced, children get abandoned, and some people can end up depressed enough to be taking their own lives as their failures become more pronounced.

What to do?

There’s always choice involved. Turn the other cheek! Why not? Is letting go so hard when you consider the consequences of holding on?

When you choose to feel insulted (you’ll know when you feel your face flush or knees wobble or stomach churn or head ache or fists clench), you need choose to stop where you are and stop whatever you’re doing.

Force yourself to take some (at least 3 or 4) really deep breaths, while saying to yourself with each inhale, “Healing energy into my body!” and with each exhale, “Stress and tension out of my body!” Remind yourself again that your behavior is your choice!

You can choose to escalate a situation or simply back away from it because it gets in the way of your success (and presumably because you prefer success to getting sidetracked). Getting (choosing to be) sidetracked is simply an admission that you have chosen for someone else to get inside your brain and control your behavior.

Don’t choose your self-pride over your self!

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

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

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

“Keep your eye on the ball!”

It’s what good coaches tell 

every batter and entrepreneur!

Concentrating hard on everything that’s right in front of you as much of the time as possible is a tall order for every ballplayer and every business owner.

It is a physically, mentally, and emotionally draining pursuit, yet focus has proven time and again to be the single most important quality to possess (beyond having a burning desire), in achieving big-time success.

Of course, having a burning desire is the motivational fuel that usually accounts for having a sharp focus to begin with.

In other words, if you truly want to win the game more than anything else in the world, you will undoubtedly make outstanding plays and you will get hits no matter how great the pitcher is. Whether or not others on your team are as committed — and if those commitments outweigh the opposing team commitments — will determine if your team wins.

When you have your own business, your “team” is your staff of employees. If you lead they will follow. Hmm, heard that before, huh? But it’s true. The hitch is in the words, “if you lead” because saying one thing and doing another doesn’t cut it for leadership. And we all know how far the screaming Little League coach gets with impressionable young players.

Then there’s the other team you’re up against — the competition. And herein lies the one-way, downward chute into oblivion for too many high-spirited entrepreneurs: gearing themselves and their energy and their businesses to the competition. They need instead to gear themselves, their energy and their businesses to the market they target and the marketplaces they’re in. 

Everything else is an ego-based, self-aggrandizing waste of time, money and energy.

Even one-one-one competitors — boxers, tennis players, swimmers cannot enter the arena focused on the competitor and expect to win. Yes, they need to review competitive strengths and weaknesses, and they certainly need to have a fix on the ring, court, pool they’ll be competing in. There’s no discounting the importance of these awareness’s.

But FOCUS has to be on what’s INside, on gathering personal strength and drive, on desire, on gumption, spunk and determination. When business owners and entrepreneurial leaders can bring that spark into work every day and nurture the spark they see in others, they will find it very difficult to fail.

We’ve all read and heard that stuff on calendars and posters and Tweets and the bottoms of emails . . . all the warnings and words of encouragement and lectures and reassurances, and what does it all mean? 

The bottom line seems to be that if you can’t feel the courage for focusing on success somewhere deep down in your gut, and if you can’t know in your heart that you can and will make a difference in this life, maybe you should reassess what you’re doing and not be absorbing all that stress. Because halfway efforts produce halfway results and halfway results produce stress. And stress kills.

Winning in sports and winning in business is never easy because — in the end — keeping focused means that you are really only competing against your SELF!                                                    

 Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals!

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Business media coverage

doesn’t start and stop

  with a news release! 

If your business isn’t getting the kind of news coverage you would like, maybe you’re giving too much attention to what your news release says and not enough to those who decide its newsworthiness.

Whether or not your news release prompts media coverage has first to do with how newsworthy (and UN-self-serving) it is. Second, it will only get meaningful placement attention when you (or whomever you designate) give(s) meaningful appreciation attention. This doesn’t mean fawning over or patronizing reporters and editors. It means appreciating their situations and responsibilities.

In the past 90 days, over 30,000 journalists have changed their jobs, their “beats” or their places of work.

 (Source: www.MyMediaInfo.com)

So regardless of how stellar and airtight your perfectly worded and formatted presentation may be, this is an industry where writers and editors may have other things on their minds besides your news release.

                                                                             

In most cases, you will not break through the clutter with an email or printed page and a half of sensational news about your company’s products, services, activities, or ideas. It will take more than that. The word here is empathy — putting yourself in other’s shoes. Maybe you think you shouldn’t have to do that as a matter of business practice.

But consider that media people (as much as we may justifiably bash the network TV anchors and often extremist editorial board behaviors) tend to be sensitive beasts. They are caught in the middle of the need to balance legitimate value stories with the illegitimate ones that will sell more newspapers and magazines and more broadcast airtime to keep enough revenues flowing to pay their salaries.

Yes, of course there are always online avenues of news exposure. Some of these — for example, www.PRWeb.com and online granddaddy, www.PRNewsWire.com, charge exorbitant fees by comparison with www.MarketersMedia.com, but they have higher “Reach” capabilities. If you don’t need to connect the world, consider MarketersMedia.

Combined with Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and other less significant players, these news release outlets can be highly productive channels.

In fact, most traditional journalists now use Twitter on a regular basis. (Source: www.MyMediaInfo.com) But, still, for really big news coverage, many continue to look to major media coverage as the difference between news and N E W S.

Okay, so do you think a single news release delivered to the Wall Street Journal from any lower level name awareness than Mr. Goldman or Mr. Sachs is going to get your new Whiz Bang Production Facility on the front page? On ANY page?

Public Relations requires Media Relations.

The best business coverage only happens 999,999 times out of a million because relationships are established and nurtured.

Like every other industry and profession, there are “tricks of the trade” you need to know in order to make your efforts pay off.

It cost money to learn and apply these secrets. Many PR firms charge $10,000 to $30,000 a month to play the PR game for you, but a good PR Coach (who will help you play the game yourself) shouldn’t be more than $1,500 to $3,500 a month (including writing a monthly release or two!).

# # #

931.854.0474 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

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

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Business or Personal, one small story or a lifetime . . .

“You should write 

a book about that!”

Probably everyone has heard this suggestion at one time or another. Most, however, shrug it off or dismiss it without serious thought.

Some simply don’t think that what they have to say is book-worthy. Others don’t think they have the time or wherewithal to pull it off. Still others just don’t know where to start or how to get good guidance without getting ripped off. A few start and quit.

If you have a story that can hold

people’s attention, you can write a book.

If you or your business has experienced some unusual or inspiring or outstanding pattern or event that prompts tears or laughter, or provokes serious head-nodding or grins of satisfaction, or that serves as a strong example of what to do or not do (failures, remember, teach success), you probably have the makings of a book.

What kind of book? Whatever kind suits your fancy.

Books, contrary to popular electronics

industry hype, are not dying.

Electronic readers are, in fact, most likely to cause an increase in book writing, publishing, and sales as they continue to come down in price. Kindles (now $139) and the like are becoming the new cell phone for a generation that’s now finding its way back to storytelling with this extended form of social media.  

A full-length, hard cover or paperback book serves an important archival value for many, and can serve to spike credibility to new levels of industry or professional acceptance . . . regardless of whether it ever gets on bookseller shelves and earns you a royalty.

A downloadable ebook can have enormous promotional value for your website and social media stardom.

Bottom line: A book is a book is a book.

Can just anyone help you? No. Simply because an individual has written or published a book does not make that person an expert, especially if you are considering some full-length story treatment, and even more especially if business is the subject or a key subject.

It takes considerable writing and storytelling skill to help someone pull a draft together. It takes editing expertise to make the draft work. It takes business experience and know-how for a book-writing consultant to be able to help create a business-based book. 

But securing the kind of writing/editing and publishing help that’s right for you, and the story you have in you, doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. It depends entirely on what you’re looking to accomplish, and how willing you are to commit yourself to the task.

The best place to start is not with a title and dedication page. Start with putting ideas for pieces of your story on index cards or pieces of scrap paper you can shuffle around a tabletop when you have a dozen or so.

Next, organize the individual thoughts into some kind of order or plan or outline or list, then consolidate those that seem to fit or work together or play off one another. This is a good point to start poking around for some experienced guidance on productive ways to put your puzzle pieces together, and to help you keep focused and on target with your message. 

Need an informed, honest book idea opinion that’s FREE to my blog visitors? Try me. I just finished writing my 6th book, hold major writing awards, offer 35 years of business experience, and yes, I am approachable. (See phone and email below) 

www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

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

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

How you chunk up

daily commute time  

reveals the real you!

Ever wonder what you can learn about others based on how they spend their work commute time?

As unorthodox an HR assessment tool as it may seem, it’s probably as effective as any other. How a person commutes to work (i.e., by what means and process) indicates, after all, a little something of each of the following career attributes:

1. time and stress management skills
2. concentration and organization skills
3. entrepreneurship
4. motivation and prioritizing skills
5. sense of initiative and responsiveness

The first pair of these itemized attributes (time and stress management skills) signals a person’s ability to adhere to a schedule while juggling interferences, interruptions, and delays. It also offers some clue about tolerance levels associated with the daily barrage of pin-pricks and nit-picks (and occasional flair-ups) of fellow-commuters.

Yes, there are still carpool goof-balls who jam an unsuspecting neighbor between them in the backseat and proceed to laugh as they spill coffee on the sandwiched lap at every pothole.

Yes, there’s always a sprawling snoring (and probably drooling) sleeper to awaken and/or climb over who’s commandeering two (or three with luggage) rush hour train (or subway or bus) seats — always, of course, when there are no other seats available.

What’s a poor commuter to do? Standing for an hour of jerks (both kinds) and bounces is not usually a great option for starting the day, especially when the time window was planned for laptop or paperwork. And please don’t start with defensive comments from “business class” express trains or some limo drivers union. We’re talking real life here. 

The second pair of attributes (concentration and organization skills) assumes the first pair can be readily met and dispensed with. It’s almost always easier to concentrate and be organized when you’re on schedule and able to fend off anger, annoyance, and upset!

Then there are also some who thrive at concentrating and being organized in chaos and turmoil. (A terrific qualifier for government job applicants!)

Next is, aaah yes, entrepreneurship! First of all, most of these folks only commute a flight or two of stairs in their bathrobes. Hey, there has to be some trade-off with corporatesville, right? And if any of these types are not officially running a basement or garage or kitchen table operation already, they are planning the moment of great escape, and aren’t reading this anyway.

Motivation and priority issues surface as various commuters face the grueling daily ritual of “Commuter Mental Block.”  Not sure about that? Just stand back and watch how many smiles disembark commuter vehicles balanced atop those suits and skirts as they enter work zones and re-enter home zones.

You’ll get volumes of information to match up with Maslow’s Hierarchy theory of motivation and a truckload of clues about those with strong prioritizing interests.

Responsive individuals with a sense of initiative rarely keep commuting . . . except perhaps a bathrobe-clad flight or two. These are the innovators, the catalysts for change, the emerging entrepreneurs who will gladly move to live on the edge of their venturesome ideas. They are the people who happily leap from the daily traffic battles and 9 to 5 status quo monotony to take their chances with their own self control. For the rest: Don’t give up your day job!    

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

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

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

“Even though

we ain’t got money,

I’m so in love

with you, Honey…”

WHAT MUSIC IS YOUR BUSINESS?

Is your business: Classic Rock, Smooth Jazz, Hip-Hop, Easy Listening, Country, Operatic, Heavy Metal, Rhythm and Blues, Punk, Big Band, Classical, March, Reggae, Folk, Broadway, Acid Rock, Acoustic, Ballroom, Boogie-Woogie, Choral, Dixieland, Doo-Wop, Grunge, Latin, Spiritual, Scat, Gospel, Honky-Tonk, Salsa, Soul, Pop, Rap, Bluegrass, Calypso, Fusion, Disco . . . or what?

Not sure? Ask around. See what employees say. Suppliers? Customers? Your family? You might be surprised at the answers you get.

Once you narrow down your field of sounds, ask yourself if you really want your business associated with McCartney’s “Money Machine” or Jimmy Buffet’s “Wastin’ Away Again In Margaritaville” . . . or whatever image seems to rise to the surface.

People are much more

                                  

receptive to abstract

                                   

questions than serious

                                

ones, and their answers

                                

are likely to be truer.

The value of this exercise is that people are much more receptive to abstract questions than serious ones, and their answers are likely to be truer. In the end, if you’re intent on making your business succeed, or continuing to succeed, then you need also to be alert to the values of taking ongoing inventory of the impressions people have of what you do. Remember it changes.

Like everything else, the only permanency in business and life is change. Perspectives change daily (hourly in many cases) and the entrepreneurs who are most successful are those who constantly keep tabs on the impressions others have of their business enterprises . . . and make adjustments accordingly.

Business is, after all, about serving the customer. When your market perceives (correctly or not) that what your business has to offer no longer satisfies the benefits your customers seek, it doesn’t matter what you think. It matters only how you adjust to provide what’s being sought. It doesn’t matter how great your music is, it’s whether it’s appropriate or not. Is it in sync with your customers?

Baseball’s greatest hitters are those who continuously (in the middle of the game and even, and especially, in the middle of an at-bat) adjust their attitudes, stance, and plans they bring with them to the plate as they see how the pitcher they face is faring. The world’s greatest entrepreneurs have the same kind of track-record and approach. They are continually assessing the market, and their role.

If you are playing rock and roll in your head and your business is playing elevator music, it’s like swinging for a fastball and getting a change up — you are way out in front. And you’re undoubtedly feeling frustrated at every turn with your organization’s snail pace. If you are trying to dance the waltz to a limbo, you are bound to trip yourself up.

So get out your old kazoo and hum your way back into reality. Start checking other peoples’ perspectives about something that has to do with your business as a matter of daily routine. It’s the only way to keep on top of the reason you’re in business in the first place . . . and that ain’t to be singin’ no lullabies (unless of course you’re in the baby products business!)

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

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

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Female Business Owners

Excel Over Men

 in All But Logic

and Hardsell!

(Yes, this is an “opinion piece,”

but it’s based on 35 years of experience!)

Let’s face up to it, guys! Women are better at almost every part of owning and running a business than we are. They are generally more creative, better money managers, and more personable and charming.

These last two attributes of course give them — if you’ll pardon the expression — a leg up on us with respect to customer service and employee relations . . . not to mention investor solicitations!

Bottom line is that, unlike men (thankfully), women business owners don’t typically put their egos on the line with every decision they make. Every business deal does not have life-threatening implications and repercussions.

Female business owners and managers (as opposed to probably 99% of their male counterparts) don’t analyze issues to death.

They take things in stride. They may cry more. And perhaps they can’t lift as many heavy cartons as some men, but they are more inclined to take action than talk about it.

 Men: If you’re married more than 20 years,

you know what it’s like to work for a woman.

And some of us have actually had female employers. I’ve had a few. One was the shining star of the New York Madison Avenue advertising agency world, and she commandeered respect with every workday breath. Her self-discipline, creative spirit, and enthusiasm were contagious.

Do women make better salespeople? I think that depends on the products or services being sold. Women, it seems to me, have a tendency to not go for the jugular in making whatever might constitute a hard-nosed sales approach. Is that a plus? I guess it depends on how hard your nose is. Q. Are women sometimes illogical? A. Does a bear…? 

Okay, so yes, they might have a couple of faults . . . uh, compared maybe with a few dozen faults chalked up on the macho side of the scale? Right. I do in fact know about the Men are from Mars stuff, but I’ve learned that while women may cross up other women on occasion, they tend to be much more authentic human beings than men most of the time.

If the way one man treats another is consistently honest and straightforward, there’s a good chance at some point the the good guy will get screwed in some business deal.

If that same Boy Scout-type dude treats a woman in business with honesty and straightforwardness, he’s likely to be treated with consistent respect in return.

I might add here that most men in business impress me as not knowing how to express empathy (or care much about it) because they are consumed with acting strong and tough and making sales and making operations work. “Your 15 year-old dog died this morning? Sorry about that. Would you please be sure to get that report on my desk by noon?”

Women, on the other hand, I believe, unhesitatingly put themselves in other’s shoes, and aren’t afraid to interrupt plans and schedules to offer counsel as needed. (I’m not talking about holding hands and spending the day with a troubled employee, watching TV and eating bonbons).  I’m talking here about taking some time out to help make a difference for someone.

Does empathy make women better businesspeople? Probably, because it undoubtedly makes them better leaders. And:

 Business success is all about successful leadership,

regardless of how you’re packaged!

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

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

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Businesses balanced on

the brink of  bankruptcy

have only truth to sell! 

Regardless of how you explain it or how you think you got there, businesses that teeter-totter, balanced on the brink of bankruptcy got there through poor management.

Not enough capital, not enough sales, the wrong personnel, the underestimated expenses, the increased cost of raw materials, the lack of bank loan support, weak operational planning, bad press . . . it’s ALL poor management!

But no need to bury your head about that. 

• First: You have company. 9 out of 11 new businesses reportedly fail within the first five years, and a best guess is that probably half that many fail after the first five years.
• Second: Every (Right, “Every”) highly successful venture of the many thousands I am keenly aware of has its success roots traced back to major failure. Forest fires create new and stronger trees.

Not unlike cutting and running on the battlefield or in the sports arena, the choice to fold up the tent is of course always available and, for some, it can gallop into position rather abruptly and become a choice that is no longer a choice.

For many, however, the moment of truth can breed heroics! It has a lot to do with courage, gumption, spunk, resilience, stick-to-it-iveness, passion, and drive.

It also has more to do with common sense and authenticity than most who face the threatening storm typically would care to admit. But facing the consequences with your business on the line — especially where the increasingly common issue of bad press is involved –requires more of one ingredient applied thoroughly and consistently than any other: truth.

Recent bad examples abound on the big business side of the coin with brokerages, mortgage companies, automakers, and scores of big-name corporate product recalls, with the over-exaggerated media hyperbole in oil leak containment effort reports.

Many see the same kinds of mismanaged and basically DIShonest accountings of activities surrounding sinking hospitals, banks, the post office and, sadly, many small business ventures.

There lies deep within these complex business failings a desire to save face at all costs, to cover one’s butt — a desire that is actually stronger than the desire to succeed. 

A sizeable hospital has disavowed it’s attachment to an affiliated and approved and endorsed physician who is alleged to have literally destroyed a community that the hospital has thrived in and nurtured its whole life.

Instead of going to the great lengths and expense and repeated hand-wringing it did to deny a relationship with the person in question (a tragically mentally sick doctor is the only way to describe what the evidence appears to point to), the hospital needed only to:  

• Step up

• Own up

• Tell all

• Admit past screw-ups and negligence

• Ask forgiveness, and

• Act immediately to bring the public to the truth of it.

Resistance to speak the truth in trying circumstances because the consequences are imagined to be humiliating, inevitably ends up making the dynamics and repercussions of the act itself far worse than when it started out.

Toyota’s response to failure was to smother it with marketing dollars. But peoples’ memories can’t be bought off! The hospital referenced will likely fold or be bought out for a monumental financial loss – all because the administration lacks backbone!

When the going gets tough, speak the truth. Sweeping the mess under the carpet only makes cleaning harder.       

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. God Bless America and Our Troops.

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

You have a business tale

to tell, but no time to

  tell it?. . . or write it? 

     So what’s your story, Boss?

     Is it long or short? Simple? Complicated? Fictional? Factual? Happy or sad? Burning hot? Icy cold? Based on true firsthand experience,  or imaginary, hand-me-down sagas? A story of family or of strangers? Neighborhoods or distant travels?

     Is it manufacturing or retail or distributorship based? B to B or B to C? A story of tourism or industry? A professional practice story? A legal or medical story? A growth or failure story? A partnership or separation story? What is it all about?

     You can and probably already do tell your story in chunks — in website pages, email messages, news releases, brochures, newsletters and interview answers. Or you can tell it (or major parts of it) all in one place that can then BE chunked up.

You can accomplish this with more complete, more comprehensive forays into the land of literature — a series of feature articles, ebooks, position (“white”) papers, booklets, specialty magazines, ongoing blog posts, and full-length books are some examples of what other successful business leaders are now doing.

     There are armies of talented organizations, groups, businesses and individuals standing in line, ready to pounce on filling any and all of the challenging opportunities for exposure — and enhancing credibility and reputation — that are noted above.

     They work on commission. They work on fees. They work on incentives. You can do it cheap or expensive, or somewhere in between.

     You will –as with most things in life — get what you pay for. If you’re happy with your neighbor’s 16 year-old being your webmaster and your new MBA assistant writing your sales and marketing pieces, you will no doubt take comfort in their efforts to represent what’s in your head!

Reminds me of the old Kawasaki Motorcycle helmet ad — “If your head is worth $29.95, buy a $29.95 helmet!”  

     Here are half a dozen thought-provokers:

1) Don’t give up on your business story idea, whatever it is. Instead, start to bullet-point it on index cards or a pocket pad or your laptop.

2) When you know what it is that you seek for your main message, start to scout around for someone with a track-record for the kind of writing you want.

3) Window shop. Check out Bing and Google. Do a little homework.

4) When you find the right person to represent your interests, that individual may also very well have ties to or a relationship with some print-on-demand book publisher-printer types, and be able to steer you in the most appropriate and economical directions. These days, you can print just a few (or even just one book!) copies and be able to order more with a phone call or email.

5) Specialized magazines are also readily available and can be produced as you wish, and individually and personally addressed as you wish.

6) Blog posts can be written in your “voice” so they sound like they’re coming from you (while you spend your time doing other things!) Regular blog posts, incidentally serve to activate your website which draws the attention of search engine spiders and lifts your search engine rankings.  

     Got an idea you’d just like to toss out to see if it could work? Give me a call. No consult fee for blog visitors.

www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. God Bless America and Our Troops.

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone!