Two heads may be

better than one,

but not always

two tongues…

When you are planning or starting out to work with another entity, intent on accomplishing a mutual goal, there are some simple steps you might want to take that can dramatically increase your odds for success.

Regardless of whether the root of your pursuit is to save money with centralized purchasing arrangements, add impact to a community fundraiser, introduce a new strategic alliance or affiliate partner, send out a joint-mission news release, join forces launching a new product or service, or just share clerical or cleaning help, the burden of success rests squarely on your tongue.

Huh? Tongue? What’s that about?

When we buy into a plan or idea or action with another person or business or organization, one that brings mutual benefit to the surface, the responsibility for making things work depends on the mutual ability to communicate clearly.

This translates to using word choices you both understand (vs. jargon that only you and your people can readily digest) and consciously limiting descriptions, requests, suggestions, and commitments to the right amount of words — avoiding with equal disdain too much or too little input. Of course, the flapping of the tongue also necessitates the listening of the ear!

U.S. Naval Academy class underlings are subjected to many disciplines. One of these is the response that’s traditionally been required to be delivered (with a salute) to any upperclassman who asks the question:

“Sir, I am greatly embarrassed and deeply humiliated that due to unforeseen circumstances beyond my control, the inner workings and hidden mechanisms of my chronometer are in such inaccord with the great sidereal movement with which time is generally reckoned that I cannot with any degree of accuracy state the correct time, sir.  But without fear of being too greatly in error, I will state that it is about __ minutes, __ seconds, and __ ticks past __ bells.”

That’s a great tool for cultivating discipline. And those who can rattle out that response (plus many others!) on the spot should be valued and appreciated for their commitment. The thing is that the military (and God Bless Our Troops!) is not business.

In business, and especially in collaborative business where the other entity may not be a deeply-known entity, the response must be “3pm” (or “3:15” or some other approximation) because anything more or less creates confusion, and confusion costs money. Effective collaborators articulate just the right amount of information to get the job done.

When you agree to work with an “outside” business, take the responsibility for getting it right. Take the extra time and trouble to make sure that you’re not only on the same mission, but that you’re also on the same channel, speaking the same language.

“Let me make sure I understand you” or “Do I understand you correctly to mean…” or “Can you give me an example of what you mean by that?” are all ways to help ensure that you and your “partners” will get to where you’re going. Don’t worry about what others think of your efforts to clarify. Worry about failing to achieve the mutual goals if you don’t.

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!

“Aha! Foiled Again!”  

With so many contemptuous disingenuous manipulative self-serving business souls running around out there, your odds as business owner of being “taken” by someone, escalate –it seems to me– in proportion to the growth of your reputation for integrity.

I’m referring to the “wolves in sheep’s clothing” types, the kinds of prospective partners and clients or customers who are masters of deception. They are disarming; they pick up on and exploit your enthusiasm; their false commitments seem credible.

Beware Falsified Authenticity!

The motto, slogan, branding line, t-shirt, bumper sticker that best represents the behaviors of these business impostors roaming the planet –and liberally practicing falsified authenticity– might be best expressed in three words:  Promises Not Kept.

Every business owner and entrepreneur has run across people in this category who inevitably cost them large amounts of “learned my lesson” time and money. Some may simply swindle you out of advances, commissions, or expense money. Some may actually be bold enough to bilk you and then take you to court, even blackmail you.

The business world is not just one big happy place!

Sadly, the business world is not just one big happy place filled with genuine people walking high moral ground who are anxious to help everyone in their path take a giant step closer to nirvana.

That’s not to suggest that utopia is impossible to reach; it’s simply an unlikely business destination for many.

It’s also not to suggest that most business leaders aren’t authentic; I believe they are! Or that they don’t practice goal-setting aimed at making the world a better place, I believe most do!

It’s the “one rotten apple” theory that every business owner and manager needs to be constantly and forever on the alert to avoid, because the associated risks of dissing the possibilities can bring down any business literally overnight.

Here’s the least you can do when you feel the least bit uneasy about someone who works him or herself into a position of significant influence and/or compensation (e.g., hiring or promoting someone to a key position, retaining an outside consultant or creative service or professional advisor, considering an investment or operations or financial or marketing partner, etc.):

• Do due diligence. Don’t stop with routine questions or reference calls. Ask references for references and talk with them (“Who else in your organization might I speak with who worked with this person when she was there?” is often a productive and revealing route to take).

• Be suspicious of offers that seem unbusinesslike, until proven otherwise.

• Have a meal together. Ask. Listen. Observe. Note the ways an individual deals with others (e.g., foodservice personnel? people at the next table?). Arrange to be interrupted and see how on-track the person stays, how agitated he responds (or reacts?) to the interruption.

Worried about these kinds of steps seeming too tricky? Worry instead about misreading someone because you put blinders over your good intentions. We’re talking here about the destructive minority who manage to infiltrate almost every business at some point.

They are people who are typically skilled communicators, who can be good at deception — even eye contact, handshakes, mental hand-holding and back-pats.

If you choose to let them set you up be a pawn (fill in the blank) . . . 

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!

Do You Hate

What You Love?

 NOTE: This blog article was originally posted two years ago in August, 2008. I have elected to repeat it here today because it touches on some sensitive leadership issues that have surfaced for a number of small business owners I’ve heard from recently.

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!

What keeps small business

owners awake at night?

With appreciation for the inspiration for this post to Meredith Bell info@2020insight.net (publisher of a great free weekly self-development newsletter titled GOLDEN EGGS), based on yesterday’s conversation with Meredith about what keeps CEO’s awake at night.

As recently as three years ago this past May, a respectable study identified worrying about the caliber and extent of employee skills to get the jobs done that needed to be done (I’m paraphrasing here) as the number one reason that CEOs were unable to sleep at night.

But the economic impact on business was nowhere near as catastrophic at that time, and consumers were nowhere near as rambunctious.

Today’s business owners and managers are losing sleep over the inability of their business’s marketing efforts to keep up with the break-neck speed of change in the consumer marketplace (and slightly slower-to-respond industrial and professional service marketplaces). Wasn’t it just yesterday that $137 Kindle electronic readers were $400?

Without belaboring what’s prompted all the consumer scrambling for better greener quality with better warranty coverage at lower prices and faster delivery with improved customer service –because everyone is acutely aware of the maddening pace of information access and exchange– suffice it to say that marketing tools, methods, approaches, and people must rise to the occasion.

The place to start is at the point of word creation. If the words you use to market your business don’t work, nothing else can work.

If the words you’re using aren’t doing the job, it doesn’t matter how dramatic your graphic designs are, how friendly your website is, what fantastic salespeople you have, how terrific your operations are, how low your overhead is, how many awards you’ve won, or how spectacularly your products and services perform.

It doesn’t matter.

What does matter are the words you use to get your prospects and customers to be aware of and buy into all of those assets of yours.

Business owners need to be evaluating their market performance daily, not quarterly or monthly, or even weekly.

In this centrifuge of market activity — unless you enjoy being thrown up against a high-speed spinning back wall, anything less than some form of daily analysis will not leave you enough time to adjust today what did or didn’t happen yesterday.

This doesn’t mean you need to get yourself caught up in some kind of delirium and start behaving like The Mad Hatter. It means you need to keep a sharper eye on the changes that are taking place, even as you read this, and be prepared to make adjustments if and when and as they become necessary . . . not a month later. 

Except for branding themes and policies, marketing words can be changed in a day! If your words are not doing what you need them to be doing this morning, change them tonight.

It’s true that one word is worth a thousand pictures. Not convinced? Consider how many images your mind can produce when you see or hear any of the following words:

• AMERICA
• TODDLER
• GORGEOUS
• STRESS
• FREE
• HAPPY
• HOME
• NOW
• HEALTHY
• NEW
• LOVE
• WATERFRONT
• BIRTHDAY
• PUPPY   

 www.TWWsells.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!

Do your business messages 

reach out and grab? 

Do they win meaningless awards?

Or do they just lurk quietly in the

shadows, sucking their thumbs?

Time and again , the slick-talking, 3-piece-suit, hot-shot marketing and ad agency “experts” came swooping and swaggering down into small town America from big city America, and stuck it to star-struck, bedazzled small business owners who learned the hard way that all that’s written doesn’t sell!”

                                                                    

Do your business sales messages sell? Have you been blaming the economy, the competition, the weather and your spouse for lousy words that simply don’t cut it?

Do the words and images your business uses to sell your products and services reach out and grab your ideal prospects and turn them into loyal customers? Or do they stand timidly in the shadows of your business entrance, with their thumbs stuck in their mouths, muttering quietly to themselves about how great your company is?

If your words aren’t getting the job done, you have a copywriting catastrophe, and you are paying dearly for it!

If the words you are using to market, promote, publicize and advertise your business are not attracting attention, creating interest, stimulating desire, prompting action, and promoting satisfaction, you have a copywriting catastrophe. And you are paying dearly for it with more money, time, and effort than your business can afford.

First, you have to ask yourself if the person or entity who’s creating and producing your business messages has the right kind of skill, experience, and attitude to put you front and center on the competitive stage you most want to dominate — your neighborhood, your community, your state, region, industry, profession, nation, planet, or cyberspace.

Next, you need to outline or bulletpoint your goal issues. Be specific, flexible, realistic, and have a deadline.

Then go shopping. But battle-hardened advice would suggest that you avoid flashy Las Vegas-style or upscale “boutique” organizations that ooze out of high rent districts in favor of down-home, in-the-trenches wordsmiths with lots of business background (but not necessarily in your specific industry or business specialty), lots of diverse success stories, and a clear positive attitude.

You want a person or team that is more interested in making sales for you than in winning awards for her/him/themselves. You want a person or team that sees the long-term promise of a relationship with your business and is willing to put a meaningful chunk of fee compensation on a performance incentive basis. A bonus for demonstrated results puts a fire under most butts.

Great copywriting will do more than win sales. It can ignite innovative thinking and create revenue streams. It can reassure existing customers while bringing new ones to your door. It can motivate employees and suppliers alike. The right words can renew. revitalize and pump up entrepreneurial spirits. But, sorry, they can’t make your coffee for you. Cream and sugar?

# # #

302.933.0116    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!

  ~~~The TXTMSG

Line in the Sand~~~

Are you really sure you understand your target market?

Are you still selling what you’ve always sold the same ways you’ve always sold? Are you using the same best sets of words in the same tone of voice? Still giving the same premiums and discounts and “special” offers, the same warranties and reassurances? Still emphasizing the same benefits and features?

If your answer to any of these questions is leaning even just a little bit toward yes, odds are you have either gotten lazy, have not been keeping up with the times, have not been sizing up your target market the right way, or you’ve been spending too much time in Disneyland.

Let’s eliminate the first and last choices and assume you are being conscientious, but have maybe lost touch with some of what’s going on in your customer (buyer) and consumer (user) markets (which of course are sometimes one in the same and sometimes different). Consider this:

They seemingly cannot

                                       

function for more than

                                    

a  couple of minutes

                                 

without looking to see

                                  

if they are receiving a

                                      

text message.”

                       — Fred Hertrich, Professor of political science, Middlesex (NJ) County College,   describing one of the prevailing winds in today’s college student population – to underscore: 1) the frustration of many teachers trying to deal with rooms full of distracted people and 2) the necessity of today’s faculties to communicate with students electronically.  

(East Brunswick, NJ, Home News Tribune, 8/21/10)

Has the prospective customer or consumer you seek most to influence crossed the line of electronic literacy? “But,” you say. “I’m not selling electronics!” Perhaps, but you are selling to people who are either electronics-literate or not.

Computer savviness is no longer the guide (unless you’re selling to nursing home residents) because everyone knows something about computers. The place where the line is drawn in the sand is:

THE TXTMSG LINE

Most older-than-45 people can and do use cell phones, check websites, visit blogs, send emails, search Bing and Google, and purchase online. Most know how to use WORD and many use Twitter and Facebook. But very few of these folks text message because they grew up in a different world.

Older Americans learned that “correct” and “proper” communication depends on neat handwriting and that spelling, punctuation, and grammar are paramount ingredients. Lax email messaging is about as far as these folks will comfortably stray. Texting is to them like “Emails Gone Wild!” and too “teeny-bopper” cult-like to be able to relate to.

Well, that may not mean anything to you, unless you’re targeting 20-somethings or 60-somethings, who clearly will not respond positively to the same old kinds of messages delivered in the same old ways. It’s not a bad idea to periodically step back and reassess what you’re saying to whom, and how you’re saying it.

Think of it as a

GR8 NU WAY 2 C HOW UR MAKIN UR PT.

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!

Nine “Do Not” lessons

learned from 30+ years 

of sales-winning advertising

I know, accenting the negative isn’t always the best thing, but if you know what NOT to do, it’s a lot easier to figure out what you can and should do. I don’t pretend to know what you can and should do, but I sure can tell you what I’ve found out that doesn’t work (and throw in a few hints about stuff I know that works better!).

Here’s the scoop:

1. Do NOT advertise that you have integrity, or even about what wonderful integrity-inspiring things you or your business have done. When you conduct business at all levels with a high-trust approach and attitude, you will gain or boost a reputation for integrity that speaks for itself!

2. (…and this is really #1): Here is the single most difficult marketing, advertising, sales and PR challenge to face for all businesses everywhere (yes, you did indeed read that right: “all businesses everywhere”)– ready for this? — Do NOT promote how great you are to the rest of the world. Nobody cares. Well, maybe your mother cares, but nobody else does.

3. Do NOT get too cutesy. Readability must come before cleverness in font (lettering) use and treatments (Italics, boldfacing, spacing, underlining, shadowing, using a horseshoe for the letter “U” or crossed swords for “X” or an egg for “O”…etc.). And don’t trust a designer to worry about readability; most have no training or experience in how to design with and around text, especially branding lines.

4. Do NOT emphasize product and service features. Nobody buys features. People buy benefits. Make sure your marketing, advertising, sales, promotion and PR efforts focus on benefits — on answering the question, what’s in it for me?

5. Do NOT buy into fancy dog and pony presentations that stress how the work a creative service provider individual or organization or group or team can do for you will put you head and shoulders above the rest of your industry or profession. Get rid of creative service providers who seem more interested in winning awards for themselves than in making sales for you. Use performance incentives.

6. Do NOT ever accept a media rate that’s printed on a “rate card” or “rate sheet.” Think of it as the asking price for a house just put on the market this morning. Media people who aren’t willing to work with your budget aren’t worth your time and consideration. There are always other ways to market your business.

7. Do NOT try to hand-off advertising/marketing/PR responsibilities to someone who works with you because they articulate well or can write a mean email. And don’t try to do it yourself unless it’s what you specialize in. Remember that there are two success keys involved: writing skill and psychology expertise. Persuading customer and prospect brains is what it’s all about. 

8. Do NOT communicate too little or too much. Ask prospects and customers what they think the right amount of information is. Have someone who’s experienced at it run a focus group for you to get these answers, and to test alternative marketing approaches. 7 target market representatives for an hour works for this purpose. Give each a $20-$25 value reward for their participation.

9. Do NOT “settle” for ads, commercials, websites, landing pages, blogs, brochures, news releases, or social media executions or strategies that don’t feel right! If you don’t feel sure about something, remember it’s your business. Your gut instinct is your best decision maker.   

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!

Dear Corporate Guys. . . 

Open minds open doors!

Sometimes, when people and organizations get too big for their britches, they have a tendency to shut down their receiving antennas. They can become especially resistant to the idea of being taught a lesson by the smaller, younger whippersnappers that they once were. But here’s the deal, Neal (Sorry; been writing rhyming verse today). Any entrepreneur will tell you:

You’re missing major sales 24/7

HA! you say, you have a great salesforce, a top-notch explosive website, and wonderful customer service people. That may be true on all three counts, though not likely. Them’s fightin’ words, you mutter under your breath, behind your glimmering smile. That “them is fightin’ words” may also be true. But here…is reality:

You’re missing major sales 24/7

Pick up the phone right now, before you even read the next paragraph, and call (not a number you know) any number for your company that you can find (IF you can find one) on your company website. Start with your homepage and troll around until you think you have a number that could answer your question about what quantity discounts might be possible for major purchases.

Odds are that if you are not put through a barrage of push-this-to-get that instructions, which are unlikely to offer any bulk purchase information anyway, you will be put on hold listening to some imbecilic message wrapped in static, and maybe escape the telltale buzzing followed by: “If you’d like to make a call, please hang up and try again.”

Okay, you get past all that. So ask. What arrangements are possible to make if I want to purchase 500 or 1,000 or 20,000 units from you? Who is the person I should speak with about quantity discount options? About custom-designed or packaged versions? Delivery timelines? About how staggered purchases can be when market testing is involved?

You’re missing major sales 24/7

Have you any idea how many sales slipped through the cracks this year because your company only talks user-friendly, but doesn’t leave doors open for prospective customers? Take a guess. Are you willing to admit that customers may have questions that simply can’t be accounted for by a program developed by some geek who doesn’t know spit about how and why people buy what they buy?

I wasted nearly two hours this week calling numbers I had to pry out of websites for three of the world’s biggest consumer goods companies. After battling to get past automated messages and static on-hold music from a company that truly should have offered superb listening, I began to feel frustrated. Hmmm, maybe they don’t want to sell stuff!

Then, after getting seven disconnects from one company and four from another, I finally spoke with stupendously pleasant people who –once they managed to slow down the pace of their speech patterns at my request– turned out to know nothing. Although, one did give me the name of a person to call and email. Another promised to “look into it” and would email me; that was two days ago.

Customer service departments should all be deleted anyway. When all employees are trained right, and accessible, there’s no need for separate (and expensive) customer service staff! 

You’re missing major sales 24/7

Oh, the call number I got, by the way (which I double-checked!), was a fax machine. The email address was answered three days later by someone else who said the person I had emailed was long-gone from the company, and how could I have ever gotten that name? (Instead of: “We screwed up, but what can I do to make things right for you?”)

The calls I made, FYI, were legit. I was representing the interests of a client who was actually considering purchasing a couple of hundred thousand dollars worth of merchandise for major promotional use (the purchase of which, alone, may afford another hundred thousand dollars worth of unpurchasable positive publicity for the supplier!), but the client wanted answers now, not days from now.

Did you make that call yet? You might be surprised by what you learn.     

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!

Window-Shoppers

and Tire-Kickers

Do Not Make For Productivity 

FAR beyond the vast sea of incompetency that floats the government boat, and WAY past the time-wasting frivolity of corporate giant muckity-mucks, America’s 30 million small business owners–together with countless millions of managers and sales professionals–live with the day-to-day reality that TIME is money!

Time (yes, it’s worth repeating) is money!

Why the big lead-in? Because time is not money for the politicians who pretend to be running the business of managing the country (unless it’s electiontime!). And because big business CEOs, CFOs, CITs, CMOs, COOs, and all the other Cs out there are preoccupied with how to justify their 9-5 existences, instead of how to make the most of all available time — including nights and weekends! 

Now that that’s settled, lets’ move to those who invest themselves in wasting other people’s time. Retailers are used to them and happily accommodate them because the tire-kickers and window-shoppers will almost certainly return some time to make an actual purchase if their non-purchase trip is a rewarding enough, pleasant experience.

BUT B to B services can die long, slow, painful deaths by dealing for too prolonged a time with this mentality.

In other words, customer service begins at the front door of a retail business and it really doesn’t matter if the individual coming in, is there to ask for driving directions or is going to be walking out  with a $1,000 purchase. “Kill ’em with kindness and bend-over-backwards service” is the rule.

When you’re selling services to other businesses, however, customer service begins AFTER the sale is made, so the qualifying-of-the-prospect need is to be courteous and expedient. Prospects need to be qualified and then dealt with accordingly. To let someone who sends an email inquiry or who calls in a telephone request for a customized proposal (a particularly common occurrence in consulting) — especially when fees and rates are asked for — jerk you around for an hour or two is a bit masochistic on your part.

People who pull this stunt are usually looking for free . . . free ideas, free outlines, free plans, free approaches, free advice, free services. Many of them will call half a dozen sources and combine responses to set a budget for themselves and use the input for criteria in setting the stage for another competitor to do the job. 

Giving away what you make a living 

 at does not make for productivity

under any circumstances . . . .

except perhaps for charity

— when it’s affordable.

The solution is to quickly qualify prospects to determine the seriousness of their intents by promptly informing them that you will be happy to do as requested the minute you can get an advance of $500 or $1000 to cover your costs, and that that amount will be credited against any work you end up doing for them.  

Your job is to make sure the “inquiring minds that want to know” are serious and committed to doing what they claim to be interested in doing, and that they’re willing to pay for your time to help them figure out how to get started. Without this, you’ll end up with enough ankle bites to drop an elephant (which, in case you never noticed, have really fat ankles!)

And it’s hard for business owners and managers

  and sales pros with bitten ankles to run full speed.

 # # #

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!

“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!