Has your brain been

thunder-struck?

     We’ve all heard  and probably used the term “Brainstorming” a few times, but when did you last use a formalized “Brainstorming” process? Did you know that the more rigidly structured approach you use, the more free-flowing and better the brainstorming results?

     I’ve probably  run 500 formal brainstorming sessions, and all have produced great results. Here’s my version of a “recipe” I follow. Print it out. Use it. It works!

[Adapted from the Pfeiffer and Jones University Associates Handbook of Structured Experiences for Human Relations Training, Volume III (Revised)].  

     THE GOALS: 

     1)  To generate an extensive number of innovative thoughts or ideas, or solutions to a problem, by suspending criticism and judgment and evaluation.

     2)  To develop skills in creative thinking and problem-solving.

     Group Size:  Any number of small groups (best if composed of 5-6 participants each). Time Required:  Approximately one hour total. Materials:  White board or newsprint pad with markers for each group; stopwatch; bell. Physical Setting:  Movable chairs for all participants. Warm-up Activity:  In 2 minutes –without talking– make something out of one double newspaper page, or one lump of modeling clay; follow with quick show ‘n tell.

     THE PROCESS: 

     1)  The facilitator has each group form a circle and select a secretary, then provides each secretary with markers and board or newsprint pad, and asks each to record every idea generated by the group.

     2)  The facilitator states the following rules: 

• A)  There will be NO criticism, no judgments, and no evaluations during the brainstorming phase of the activity.
• B)  Far-fetched ideas are encouraged because they often trigger more practical ones.
• C)  Many ideas are desirable.

     3)  The facilitator announces that participants are to imagine being cast ashore on a desert island with absolutely nothing but a belt, then tells the group they have 15 minutes by the stopwatch to come up with as many ideas as they can in answer to the question: What can be done with the belt? (Other objects can be substituted– a flashlight / a rope / an oar / a corkscrew– and props, e.g., an actual belt, can often enhance the discussion)

     4)  After 15 minutes, the facilitator rings the bell, and tells the group(s) that the ban on criticism / judgments / evaluations is over, and directs the group(s) to evaluate their ideas and select the best –most feasible– ones. With multiple groups, each group’s “best” list can be shared, then all involved can explore ways to combine “best” ideas. The final (combined) list is posted and participants are asked to rank-order them for practical usefulness.

REPEAT THE ENTIRE PROCESS WITH A REAL BUSINESS PROBLEM OR NEED SITUATION. This can be done on-the-spot, the next day, next week, or periodically. The more disciplined the facilitator is in requiring adherence to guidelines, the better the results that can be expected.  So go beat your brains in, if the storm didn’t already get to you! 

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“Papa needs a new pair

of shoes!”

Stop rolling the dice  with your business! When your car tires go bad, you somehow afford to get new ones. When your feet start scraping the pavement (hopefully before that!), you figure out a way to get new shoes.

But these are steps you take  (I know, it’s a cute segue, but no pun intended) on your own because you’ve (sorry for this) been around the block with bad tires and shoes (probably when you were in high school?) and you have enough common sense to know when it’s time to get replacements.

Who tells you  when it’s time to replace all or part of your business foundation?  Your accountant? Your customers? Your employees? Your suppliers? Your Mother? Are you open and receptive to their input? Do you make it difficult for others to offer up their opinions about your business?

     Are you  a business hardhead?

     Sometimes,  you know, it just makes sense to be pro-active and get broken stuff fixed before having to face a parkway breakdown at rush hour, before heading into a major meeting with your shoe-bottom flopping, before the competitor down the street puts out a better quality product with better service at a cheaper price (now there’s a nightmare!).

     Hardheads  think the above situations are solved by improvising. So what? they might say, tires go and car breaks down? I’ll just hitch-hike! The shoe deal? Hey, duct tape works wonders, or, okay, Gorilla Glue. And the better/cheaper guy? No problem! A lotta people will pay more for less; you just gotta trick ’em!

     NOPE!  Not only will hardheads lose their shirts, and probably their farms, they simply won’t survive. Period.

     First of all, TRUE entrepreneurs take ONLY reasonable risks.  They don’t roll dice. Very few ever even buy a lottery ticket. BEFORE tires go, shoes wear, or business foundations crumble,  TRUE entrepreneurs take action  –not the Scotch Tape and rubber bands quick-fix variety.  They improvise but they don’t downgrade.  They may find or make a better deal for tires or new shoes, but they won’t de-value the quality.

And guess what? TRUE entrepreneurs ASK others for feedback continually.   They WANT to know what and how to adjust their product and service offerings to better satisfy market demands.

Are you taking the time  to ask those around you, especially customers and employees, what they think about what you sell, and how you sell? It needs to be as much a part of your daily routine as brushing your teeth… or gluing your shoes back together!

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Listening skills alone 

do not a good boss make!

     Just when you thought  you were doing a great job of  communicating because you’ve been working so hard at listening better and more actively and more attentively, along comes this snot-nose blog writer to tell you that you’re only halfway there!

     Careful listening is a wonderful thing,  and it gets you to the fifty-yard line every time. But if you’re not taking ACTION on what you hear from your staff and associates, and if you’re not giving the source of the ideas and information due credit, touchdowns are not in your future!

     You’ve heard about  criticize in private and praise in public? Well you can’t do too much (genuine) praise of good ideas, good behavior, good attempts (even when they fail!), good attitudes, good productivity, good referrals and networking, good overall performance.

     If your response to this  is to off-handedly toss a mumbled “Yeah, right!” on the table, you need to seriously question if you are getting too old too fast. When was the last time you were the object of some one’s sincere praise? How did it feel? What action did it prompt?

     Every time you can  express appreciation for innovative, success-driven thinking and behavior, and of course in public, you are fostering more positive thinking and action by that individual, and by everyone else around. Trophies, plaques and certificates are nice, but there’s nothing like an on-the-spot exuberant compliment and accreditation, a pat on the back.

     Small, frequent on-the-spot rewards  for a job well done (or well-attempted) have always served to motivate and encourage repeat positive performance better and much more effectively than any other form of “attaboy” treatment.

     Pulling an employee  (not physically, I should probably mention!) from her work station to thank her for a great effort in front of whoever is there (customers, other staffers, vendors, passerby, delivery people) and treating her at that moment to coffee, or lunch or a walk around the block will generate more positiveness than annual award dinners and golf outings.

     Spontaneity counts!    

     Nurturing  company-wide opportunities to contribute counts!

The feeling that one’s opinion counts in the grand scheme of things provides an enhanced sense of self-worth, and people who feel good about themselves because of the work they do, will in turn feel good about the employer who makes this possible.”

—Martin Yate from KEEPING THE BEST And Other Thoughts on Building a Super Competitive Workforce 

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Hal@Businessworks.US 302.933.0116

Open Minds Open Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

And now’s the time to prune the

brittle dead and the overgrown.

     In this second straight year  of continuing economic setbacks for you and your business, you have no doubt suffered losses —money and people— you would certainly have preferred to avoid. And now you’re sitting out on the farthest-most limb of your company tree, saw in hand.

     Well, scramble back down  and spare that big old branch. It may not look altogether healthy, but there’s some green stuff coming out of those barren bark areas, and it’ll survive and thrive if you just —instead— get out the pruning shears for one last ruthless sweep of the brittle dead and the overgrown.   

     But, wait, you say,  you’ve done this already, just months ago! Well, if you’ll promise to shoot the message and not the messenger, I’ll take the risk of telling you that you need to consider it again. When overgrown shrubs and dead branches are lopped off, more nutrients go into growing that which remains and the discarded pieces will return to life in some other form.

     When you let go  of marginal employees, you are strengthening the organization and you are giving everybody a chance to reinvent themselves. They may not like it; they may suffer for it; they may not see it as an opportunity, but in the end they’ll be happier for finding work situations that are better suited to them.

     UNLIKE trees and shrubs,  you are dealing with human emotions and frailties, so a realistic tone of understanding, empathy, active listening, and genuine helpfulness is what you must offer as your end of the trade-off. Losing a job is equal to losing a life for many because it’s such a devastating blow to the ego and self-esteem.

     You must be tuned into  that dynamic and do everything possible to help ease the life transition your business survival needs are prompting. Yes, you must be firm in making and communicating your decisions, but you must also be willing to listen, eager to refer, agreeable to compensate, and share in the responsibility. Why? Because it comes with being a leader.

     And why now?  Because as we let go, we grow. Because the longer we hold onto weak, unproductive, marginal employees, the closer we come to the point of no return, where it’s simply too late to let go and too late to survive.

     Just keep in mind  that there is also a time for every purpose under heaven, and that one purpose of a leader is to show heart in helping the downtrodden to see the light, while showing courage in inspiring the strongest of remaining forces to move forward, onward and upward for the collective good.

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Input aways welcome: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in    subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  

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This blog free via list-protected email: click RSS Feed above…$1.99/mo on  AMAZON Kindle. Creative? Add your own 7 words to the 318-day 7-Word Story (under RSS) We’re making it up as we go!  GET Hal Alpiar short story in Sept. release book from Nightengale Press: THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING Amazon, B&N, OR order special (signed by Hal) pre-publication $22.45 total check only (includes s&h), payable & mail to: TheWriterWorks.com, LLC @PO Box 1236, Millsboro, DE 19966. Include continental US ship-to address. 9/13 is Grandparent’s Day!

NO business is worth

your family!

     With the odds for success practically in the minus zone, it’s a wonder that family businesses–including, of course, formal partnerships–ever survive at all, never mind continue to be born on a daily basis.

     I mean I’ve always thought human beings were gluttons for punishment, especially in business and especially in family life. And here we have a non-stop wave of people actually putting the two lunatic fringes together, and calling them “family businesses.” 

     Maybe instead of LLC (for Limited Liability Corporation), these undertakings (pardon the expression) should be designated LMD (for Limited Maniacal Dysfunctionality).

     What kind of a nut case do you have to be to go into business with your brother-in-law? You never liked each other to start with. He’s a lazy good-for-nothing snail brain who prefers sitting in the back room watching TV and drinking beer to waiting on customers and stocking shelves.

     Oh, you’re a law firm? Sorry. Actually, that makes it all a whole lot worse; arguing over a TV and can of beer is nothing compared to suits and counter suits… and bad suits. Husband and wife team? HA! For how long?

     It takes a VERY special relationship for a couple, or any family members, to make things work in a business setting. There are natural authority and responsibility levels attached to family membership that almost necessarily spill over into the business.

     Family business partners need to work harder at not taking business too far into home life. It’s a good idea for couples to paint a red line across the bedroom doorway (one couple I know uses yellow “CAUTION” tape) to serve as a conscious reminder to separate business from personal life.

     Talking through business-related issues before heading home should be a goal if you want your personal relationship to stay healthy. When something needs to come home for discussion, do it in a home office, or porch or basement or backyard, but keep it away from the kitchen, the bedroom, the family room, and the dinner table.

     It takes two to tango goes the old expression; it takes two to drag business into personal home space. CHOOSE to detach yourself from potential confrontations. Home office? Keep it there when you leave the workspace. You need to work at this together. It doesn’t happen by itself.

     Father & Son, Mother & Daughter, Husband & Wife, Brothers & Sisters, In-Laws, Cousins, Aunts & Uncles: Talk to each other about it. More importantly, LISTEN to each other about it. RESPECT each other’s privacy and need for quiet time.

     When you push the limits, you push the relationships, and if one collapses, it all collapses. If you’re going to do this insane family business thing, do it in a spirit of cooperation and trust and mutual respect. Maybe then, you have a chance of making it work!     

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Hal@Businessworks.US  or comment below.

Thanks for visiting. 

Go for your goals, good night and God bless you!

 When “Not Enough”

is “Too Much”

and “Too Much”

is “Not Enough”!

     Partnerships are seldom what many think they are. People without business experience think of two tough guys who both have their shoulders to the wheel and are pushing their business enterprise forward with equal effort and dedication. Reality check: Doesn’t happen!

     First of all, based on firsthand exposure to many hundreds of partnerships — professional as well as menial, glamorous as well as boring, and adversarial as well as loving, business partners are more often than not opposites in personality, financial stability, educational background, and often age.

[“Family Partnerships” will be explored separately in an upcoming blog post]

     In my experience, it’s unusual when partners actually like each other (including many who also share marriage or significant-other relationships), but they almost inevitably defend one another to outsiders.

     Doctors, incidentally, do this instinctively, and will (unlike “HOUSE” and “ER” and “Grey’s Anatomy”) rarely if ever turn on one another when the chips are down, even when one knows the other is wrong. That’s doctors.

     It’s their job to further the causes of humanity and of those who share the Hippocratic Oath. They’ll whine and complain and throw scalpels, but if it’s really called for, they’ll often take one for the team. 

     Lawyers, on the other hand, will almost always –given the choice– go for the throat. It’s their job to be adversarial. The minute they befriend another lawyer, they’ll end up suddenly facing one another in the courtroom the next morning. They may be entertaining as golfers, but stay alert; they don’t always yell FORE!

     Enough of these big money guys. Let’s focus on the down-in-the-trenches partners who run physical labor businesses, or who provide services FOR the doctors and lawyers, or who came together because they both (or more than two) hated the stagnant company or boss they worked for, and one or both or more had a better idea.

     Not pulling enough weight–responsibility–is often too much mentally, physically, emotionally for the partner(s) who carry(ies) the lion’s share (finances, work hours, productivity, sales, customer service, product/service development, etc.).

     The lack of shared commitment or workload easily ends up taxing the relationship(s) beyond where either is (any are) comfortable. You can imagine where things go from there.

     Pulling too much too fast is just as bad.

     Is this any different than how you treat your body? What’s missing in these examples? Balance? Ah, balance. That elusive, invisible, intangible quality that keeps us all sane…or at least a quart or two short of lunacy.

     Without balance, our bodies go into negative stress overload and produce illness, accidents, and death. Without balance, our families become distant and dysfunctional. Without balance, business partners march to different drummers and businesses literally fall apart at the seams.

     So, what can we do to short-circuit lack of balance from taking its toll? Start with ourselves. Figure out where we are so can get a better idea of where we’re going. Decide if where we’re going is where we want (or need, in order to survive) to go.

     Communicate about these ideas to family and friends AND to partners. AND LISTEN! Partners may hate one another, but they share mutual investments in one another and that counts for something. Relationship history alone dictates the need for open discussion with set (not hidden) agendas.

Balance only comes when you can put one foot in front of the other and focus on each step instead of the finish line. 

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Input aways welcome: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in    subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  

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Get this blog FREE by list-protected email: click “Posts RSS Feed” (center column)…or pay $1.99/month on AMAZON Kindle. FEEL CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the 303-day “7-Word Story” (center col.). New Hal Alpiar short story Sept. release book from Nightengale Press: THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING…$19.95 ($24.95 CAD) @ Barnes & Noble, OR order special (signed by Hal) pre-publication @$18.95+s&h [$22.45 total check only), payable to: TheWriterWorks.com, LLC. @PO Box 1236, Millsboro, DE 19966. Include ship-to address (mainland US only).  SEPT. 13th IS GRANDPARENT’S DAY! [Details via Blogroll link @ right]

SELF-EMPLOYED?

Defragment and

give your SELF a

stimulus package!

     There’s plenty of unused storage space in your mind, believe me. Even if it’s just a little teeny bit true that Einstein supposedly only used about 10% of his total brain capacity, where does that leave the rest of us? I mean, give that about 27 or 28 seconds of think time right now.

     Think about all that extra (empty?) space in your brain that’s available to put to work. Leave it plugged in tonight and just click on accessories> defragment. By the morning, VOILA! You’ll be ready for anything.

     Maybe we should sort out who’s working where first. That way, when you’re all freshly defragmented, you’ll be in a position to make more of what you’ve got, or jump into something different.

     If you work for a big company, raise your hand and leave the room. If you work for someone else in a small company or you work for an organization of some type, or you’re in school learning how to work for somebody else…or you don’t work (Wow! What’s thatlike?), you’re probably not reading any of this anyway because you’re too busy surfing FaceBook.

This now leaves us with the heart of the businessworld: YOU!

    You run and/or own and/or manage a business,

OR you are self-employed.

     Oh, there’s that nasty hyphenated word again: self-employed. This simply means that you run AND own AND manage a business. I love you for that…but don’t get yourself worked up over my affection because what do I know?

     Federal and state government leaders don’t think you count.

     Obviously they haven’t a clue about how Apple and Microsoft got started in garages by self-employed geniuses. Anyway, don’t hold your breath waiting for some kind of  stimulus package since “self-employed” doesn’t count as a small business in government circles.

     I saw a handful of governor-conference-attending governors on CSPAN last night, including I am sorry to say, Delaware Governor Jack Markell who clearly doesn’t get it…who thinks his small business job creation plan to help established small businesses get bigger is going to have big economic impact.

     Sorry Jack. You need to get real, and talk with (LISTEN TO) some of Delaware’s thousands of self-employed small businesses –the ones that are NOT established, that are struggling to get established to see what they need to get up to 3 or 4 or 11 or 25 employees…and TIP: it’s not more loans!

     Making stimulus package room for startups and struggling self-employed is like making disk space by defragmenting. Clear out the junk, the spam, the space-wasters.

     You see what I’m saying here about brain capacity?  Defragmenting cleans up your harddrive. The same concept will clean up your brain, and help you focus on how to be more productive with your time and energy.

     You can be sure of not getting government support, so what can you be sure of? Your SELF! And how do you make that start to work for you? The same ways that Messrs. Jobs and Gates made their one-man-band garage ventures start to work for them.

     They made the choice. They worked hard at their ideas. They didn’t give up when things looked bleak. They didn’t worry about stimulus packages. They put their heads down and charged. You can do that too! Start tomorrow morning…after you defragment tonight!     

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Input aways welcome: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in    subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  

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Get this blog FREE by list-protected email: click “Posts RSS Feed” (center column)…or pay $1.99/month on AMAZON Kindle. FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the 297-day “7-Word Story” (center column). A new Hal Alpiar short story is coming in September in a new book from Nightengale Press: THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING…soon at Barnes & Noble @ $19.95 ($24.95 CAD), OR order special (signed by Hal) pre-publication @ $18.95 plus $3.50 s&h [$22.45 total check only), payable to: TheWriterWorks.com. LLC. and mail to POBox 1236, Millsboro, DE 19966. Include ship-to (U.S. only) address.  REMEMBER SEPTEMBER 13th IS GRANDPARENT’S DAY! 

“You’ve got to stand

for something, or

you’ll fall for anything”

— Aaron Tippin, Country Western Performer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hja0XND8Ms 

     The business world seems to have a mission to have a Mission Statement for everything these days…Sales Mission Statements, Customer Service Mission Statements, Corporate Mission Statements, Financial Mission Statements…

     And many of these, I believe, are merely token lip service public relations-type tongue-twisters with no teeth that hang framed on walls and plastered onto every ad and document and website in bordered shadow boxes, flaunted as if they were flags of honor and integrity!

     First of all, any company that has to be boasting about a Mission Statement (no matter how goody-goody it might sound) is simply indulging itself in mental masturbation.

     If your business is as great as the pursuit of its Mission, the people you want to know it, will know it without you having to strut it across every stage. Your behavior and the behavior of your business is what constitutes your “brand” and people will know you by your brand, your conduct.

     That having been said, there is a need in every organization (even sole proprietorships) for an internal “Leadership Mission Statement” that owners, operators, and managers can rally around and bring into daily practice. “You need to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.”

     It needs to address HOW your business leadership will function and communicate with others inside AND outside your organization. Why? Because –no matter what business you’re in, no matter what quality or value of goods and services you offer, no matter how industrious and honorable you may be– 80% of your business is communication!

     If you don’t have a Leadership Mission that focuses attention on the processes and ways you will strive daily to communicate clearly (including, importantly, active listening practices) with associates, staff, customers, prospects, vendors, community, industry and the rest of the world, you are setting your company up for failure.

     I’m not talking about a PR or media or customer service policy  manual, or some empty suit theory. I’m referring to a genuine statement of leadership conduct that calls on human communication best practices at every level… in letters, emails, on the phone, in-person, in presentations, and in all marketing related materials, publishings and broadcasts all of the time. “You need to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.”

What’s the guideline to use? Trust and Authenticity.

With special thanks for inspiring tonight’s blog post to a strategic alliance partner of mine, Andrew Jackson, who sent me the link to the music video source of the headline quote above. 

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Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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  Is Your Business   

Half-Pregnant?

     I am convinced that the number one reason for business failure is not the economy, not insufficient capital, not poor management, and not over-regulation by government, though all are symptomatic.

     Government interference is of course particularly irksome because it’s being crafted, dictated, and delivered by an arrogant socialist stampede of naive, incompetent leaders whose total business experience equals zero.

     So, what IS the number one reason for business failure?

     Dig deeper.  

     In the past few years, I personally experienced or had first-hand reported more than two dozen incidents involving owners, operators, and managers of sizeable, established businesses hurtling their business interests the wrong way down one-way streets with reckless abandon.

     All have either since collided or failed or are on their way

All have or had the following characteristics in common:

• Lack of follow-through and a vested interest in maintaining the status quo (amazingly, even after hiring outside consultants to ignite, stimulate, and motivate!) 
• Disregard for and disrespect of their employees, with tokenism providing the prevailing wind 
• Disregard of the very talents and solutions they were outsourcing to shore up their own shortcomings (hard to believe, especially after paying for services, but true!) 
• Complete resistance to initiate two-way “partnership style” communicating
• Not having a sense of urgency.    

     I reduce all of these weaknesses to driving a business the wrong way on a one-way street. It’s noteworthy that many of them talk(ed) the good talk…but to themselves: Mission Statements with no teeth!

     Without keeping open to and encouraging two-way communication by exercising strong listening and feedback skills, by making assumptions instead of addressing differences, and by disregarding the very consulting input they were paying for (and then not providing feedback), they were/are setting themselves up for failure. 

The economy, under-capitalization, poor management, and over-regulation are excuses. Businesses succeed–even with all of these factors working against them–by communicating openly at all levels all of the time. Communicating openly at all levels all of the time is the ultimate trigger for business transparency.

Transparency, like pregnancy, cannot be half-way.

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 Hal@TheWriterWorks.com or comment below. Thanks for visiting. 

Go for your goals, good night and God bless you!

Sign up now for

“The Dirt Floor Visit”!

Well, I promised exciting news for tonight, and I’ve got it.

     BUT–

• if you’re not a grandparent,
• or don’t know a grandparent,
• or haven’t yet told a parent that she or he is about to become a grandparent,
• or haven’t told a parent the he or she is already a grandparent,
• or don’t have friends who are already grandparents, or about to become grandparents,
• or for some bizarre reason just don’t care about grandparents (is that possible?)

     — then it’s okay to leave this post tonight and go about your site-surfing because you definitely won’t be interested! Come back again soon though. I love you anyway.

     Now, those of you who are left: Hunker down, and give a listen!

     Mark your calendar for September to go to Barnes & Noble or your nearest bookseller (online or in-person) and sally on up to the counter (or just plunk out your PayPal or charge card numbers) and plop down $20 US, or $25 in Canada (you get a nickle change in either country), and go home with a copy of the wonderful new book edited by writer/ publisher/painter and Internet talk show host Valerie Connelly, to be published by Nightengale Press, entitled:

THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING

     As a thrilled, privileged, and happy contributor (of a reality-based story called “The Dirt Floor Visit” about grandpa and 12 year-old granddaughter!), I have just had the good fortune to read the first draft proofs, and I must tell you that:

Absolutely no grandparent in the world should be without a copy!

     You will not believe the great advice, the messages of love and understanding, the dynamics of grandparent and grandchild that never make it to the TV screen!

     Get a dose of the real grandparent/grandchild world of diapers and gurgles and thumb-grabbing and eyeglass-pulling and hugs and kisses and confidences and interactions you probably never imagined were part of this special relationship that spans the planet and the centuries. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. You’ll grab the arm of your chair.

     You’ll hear more about it here (Stay Tuned!) as well as at www.TheArtOfGrandparenting.com once school starts again, and the leaves begin to turn. Reserve a copy now for yourself, or your favorite grandparents or your favorite grandparents-to-be.

     What a great gift! It’s all about being able to share in the special relationships that make (and will make) any new or growing grandparent experiences special! 

Tomorrow: Back-to-Business Basics 

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Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

FREE BLOG SUBSCRIPTION? Click on ”Posts RSS Feed” (Center Column), or now on your AMAZON Kindle for just $1.99 a month after a free trial. FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the end of the daily 278 days old growing tale! Click under “7-Word Story” (center column)