Is this a good time to expand my business?

Is NOW a good time to expand my business?

If you have to ask yourself this question, the apprehension alone might be cause for you to put your expansion plans on hold, and simply pursue making what you already have work better! 

No matter the intensity of your urge to charge forward and change the world (or your income, influence, or lifestyle), it’s unlikely that pulling over to the side of the road to get your bearings will prompt your demise, or kill your business.

With COVID, national and worldwide clashes, and jolting tax increases in their present state of uproar–and with such an unresponsive and shaky government intent on creating uproar—you may do better to simply exercise caution, while courting your existing client/customer base as you keep watching and listening.

Expansion apprehension sparks wildfires! Accept that this may NOT be the best time to open a new store/office/ division, or introducing a new product or service.  You may instead want to be directing your energy toward strengthening your existing base by being better at what you do and the ways you do it.

Consider that (like “Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs”) it may be time to “whistle while you work” instead of forcing confrontation with today’s burdens of market threats and government shakiness by trying to rush your expansion plan.

Remember: Entrepreneurship is an instinct, not a learned/ teachable skill-set. You may have entrepreneurial spirit but that doesn’t make you an entrepreneur. Contrary to what many believe: True entrepreneurs do not take true risks! “Err on the side of caution,” many advise.

Given today’s economy and government preoccupation with creating high-risk stakes, you may want to simply maximize your services, strengthen your loyalty base… and be ready to pounce when the opportunity doors open.  

__________________________________

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Since 1981, BusinessWorks.US

has been coaching businesses

of every size and description

to success . . . and beyond. 

We are NOT a collection of big-talk, big-price consultants who tell you what you already know.

We are invested in helping Clients to “Grow Now.” We help you ignite and pursue the best of your dreams, and interests. We open doors.

You get a proven track-record Business Growth Coach who invests hands-on experience, creative  support, energy (and even part of the project fee) into the success of your business.

From services to products, manufacturing to online, retail to professional practices, our Clients get decades of successful business-building experience and creative business development expertise.

Our credits include regional and national awards, and extensive experience with:  the SBA, chambers of commerce, universities and community colleges, private healthcare practices, and public service providers, national healthcare teams and committees . . . and with opening new market opportunities . . . for hundreds of successful Clients.

We have achieved record sales results for every size and type of business and industry — from entrepreneurial “Startups” and “Family Businesses” to “Fortune 500” companies, to public service and nonprofit enterprises.

Clients get sales and impression results from our unique creative content, strategies and applications for branding, marketing, advertising, PR, CRM, sales and management skill applications to virtually every form of broadcast/ online/video/print and promotional media.

When appropriate, we also deliver custom-designed, Client-Staff and Management Team training strategies and support programs

We energize and ignite client businesses and projects. We generate new revenue streams.

At our clients’ beck and call, we work remotely/virtually and on-site as required.

If you would like to know more . . . no fees, no “pushy hard sell,” no strings attached . . . give me a call:

HAL ALPIAR, President/CEO

BusinessWorks.US

1.931.854.0474

(M-S; 9AM-6PM; CST)

IS THIS BLANK SPACE

YOUR LATEST

  BUSINESS MESSAGE?

INSTEAD OF LOSING SLEEP, torturing your friends and family, and spending money you don’t have… Instead of spending every waking minute trying to cope with one crisis after another …Instead of having no genuine, reliable plan to replace your investments or feeling like you’ll have to close your business, or (like many healthcare professionals) feeling pressured to merge with more securely-financed competitors — Don’t Jump!

EVEN IF YOU ARE FEELING DESPERATE, there’s much more that’s possible if you’ll just step back and clear all your “yes/but” thinking. Close your eyes for just one minute while you take some deep breaths and imagine a 2-year-old giggling toddler running into your arms . . . a child who thinks you are the greatest thing since milk, sunshine, mirrors and puppy licks.  Go ahead. Do it! Close your eyes. Take deep breaths. It only takes ONE MINUTE for you to rattle your own cage, regain control.  

NOW BEGIN SOME NEW THINKING with pen and paper (keyboards fail physiologically to prompt the same level of commitment) by drawing an upsidedown triangle. Draw two horizontal lines dividing the upsidedown triangle into thirds. Top third, label “OBJECTIVES.” Middle third, label “STRATEGIES.” Bottom third, label “TACTICS.” [Keep taking those deep breaths!]

The OBJECTIVES are the two or three realistic goals you would like to reach that you think possible if you can get your act together. The STRATEGIES are the avenues you take to reach your objectives [and deal with roadblocks that may suddenly pop up!]. The TACTICS are the methods/steps you need to take to activate the STRATEGIES to reach your goals [the OBJECTIVES].

IF YOU CAN DO THIS MUCH, YOU ARE WELL ON YOUR WAY out from under the suffering, the COVID-19 pandemic, the UNpeaceful demonstrations and rioting, the merciless political rampage that is more preoccupied with stirring up new problems than in solving existing ones . . . and, most importantly,YOU ARE WELL ON YOUR WAY TO: 

 . . . Revitalizing your own energy

. . . Refreshing your thinking  

. . . And taking firm action with steps forward on your own behalf and on behalf of your friends/ family/employees/customers/and community. 

Once you have a better grasp of where you want your business to go, and what you need to do to get there, just make it happen! Yes, you CAN do it!!

If this last step is difficult to digest, call me (Hal)

 at my desk (CT/M-Sat): 1.931.854.0474 and I’ll use

my experience (with helping to straighten out over 

600 businesses and professional practices) to see 

if I can suggest some next-step thinking for your

pursuits. If I’m not answering, leave callback

number, time zone, and best times to reach you.

(NO FEES ATTACHED TO THESE CALLS) 

HOW you say what you say

is at least as important

as WHAT you say!

What? Read that again! But before you click off, do your  SELF a favor:  Record your voice and listen hard to your  volume, tone of voice, inflections, and emphasis . . . or find someone to listen and repeat what you just meant!

It’s not just WHAT you say, it’s HOW you say it . . . HOW you come across? Odds are someone else’s take (or even your own in listening to a recording) will be different than  what you thought you were communicating.

Actors know this; it’s why they re-read scripts aloud many  times–until it FEELS right and until others GET what they  are trying to communicate.

WHY?

Because HOW something is said is what gets processed and communicated far beyond the meaning of the actual words.  Not sure? Try yelling “I love you!” in an angry tone of voice,  or whispering “HELP! I’m drowning” as you fall off a cruise ship. Okay, a bit extreme perhaps, but you get the idea.

The conteXt (or HOW you present the conteNt) of your idea or message is what matters most. Is a “mixed message” any different from wearing a suit and tie to a kid’s backyard birthday party or a greasy hoodie and overalls to a formal wedding?

Are you representing your business interests, products and services in proper conteXt with your:

• customer base and target market?

• branding line and platform?

• vision and mission statements?

• marketing and PR and promotion goals and budgets?

• employees and suppliers?

• business community and community-at-large?

• website and social media platform?

  

If you can answer “YES!” to all the above, congratulations! If  you have doubts, you may need a quick-fix or some ongoing experienced input from a team of conteXt experts who can help ensure that all your messages are in the most productive light  to produce the most sales and grow your customer base quicker.

From running focus groups to training your staff . . . to creating branding and marketing programs that work . . . to implementing your website and social media development . . . to creating customized training and promotional videos (even customized music!) . . . all with many hundreds of miles of success experience: visit

www.FasTrakBusinessWorks.com

(with no “cookies” or tracking of your site visit, and no annoying followup calls or emails!)

Then call Hal @ 1.931.854.0474    

for a no-fee, get-acquainted consult.

NOW YOU CAN

Save Time AND Money

While Achieving Your Goals!!

It’s 2020! Are you at your “wit’s end” trying to figure out how you’ll ever increase business sales or healthcare patient volume?

Do you wish what you already have in place would enhance your community stature or afford you more time off or build a stronger support team or have a website and social media plan that really works?

Are you exhausted trying to develop a top-notch, cutting-edge branding program that boosts your interests over competitors . . . without having to spend enormous amounts of time and money in the effort?

If any of these questions provoke a “YES!” answer from you, visit our new expanded “sister” site right this minute by clicking HERE

With All Best Wishes for a Very Merry Christmas

and a Happy Healthy New Year! – Hal

REAL entrepreneurs

 are born, not made!

Almost like a 6th sense, true entrepreneurs are blessed with an intuitive instinct that sets them apart from other businesspeople. They possess an inner quest for making their ideas work even after suffering what sometimes seems to others to be endless defeats.

True entrepreneurs rise from the “smoke and ashes” with smiles and renewed energy. They don’t whimper, cry, curse, or pound on tabletops. How is this possible? Because they instinctively view every setback as a new learning experience, as an opportunity, not as failure.

They do this by launching yet another try to achieve their goals. Remember Thomas Edison made 10,000 (TEN THOUSAND!!) attempts before inventing the lightbulb!

Over the past few weeks, I had the good fortune to separately interview two purebred entrepreneurs: Valerie Connelly (3-part interview) and Alex Maddux (former “Mr. Tennessee”) on my weekly radio show and podcast.

[NOTE: Podcasts are 22-23 minutes and accessible 24/7, worldwide, for free at www.NewsTalk941.com/podcasts  Then scroll down 13 program titles to “BUSINESSWORKS” then through 9-10 recent topics to “Cannes Film Festival”/”Valerie Connelly & Entrepreneurship Pt1” and then to “Pt 2.” The show with Alex Maddux will be available on Monday 9/9/19]   

Both of these entrepreneurs rose from what some might call “the depths of failure” but neither Valerie nor Alex ever considered such experiences as depressing or oppressive. Even though neither was “rollin’ in dough” at the time, each chose to see what others might call “errors” as nothing more than learning experiences.

Each took overwhelmingly crippling results from having their ideas knocked over, knocked out, and trampled on by others as “positive learning steps” that led each to the door of imminent success:

• 

• Valerie, is reaching her door (a 35-year pursuit!)  to create an enormously entertaining and inspiring women’s (and men’s) empowerment, totally-original, musical film [See the 2  1/2 minute “sizzle reel, “a pre-production imagined version of the post-production “trailer” at vimeo.com/340320166 ; this “teaser” was developed prior to the 8/22/19 live Nashville  theater script reading by professional actors and is presently being updated to be featured on upcoming Indiegogo film-credit funding opportunities].

Alex (shown with son Avyn), has reached his door with varied career pursuits, each of which contributed to

his current “athletes and outdoor work and play experience” market for UBEECOOL towels and other distinctive UBEECOOL logo-imprinted merchandise. 

See www.UBEECOOL.com 

The take-away from both of these innovators is –whether you are an entrepreneur-by-instinct or have lived and applied entrepreneurial actions and ways of thinking to your own pursuits– take heed (and comfort) in the shared guidelines and key ingredients that both Valerie and Alex attribute to entrepreneurial success:

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF.

BE (and stay) DETERMINED.

BE PASSIONATE in your pursuits.

HAVE A STRONG SUPPORT SYSTEM (family/friends/employees/community/church).

BE FLEXIBLE (product and service planning and adaptability).

Having worked closely as a creative business development coach and guide to thousands of successful entrepreneurs, I can authoritatively say:  The bottom line is to learn from those you believe have entrepreneurial instinct how she/he/they think and  act, and how you can vastly improve your odds for success by applying what you absorb and practice… Hal Alpiar

DOES YOUR BUSINESS

  GO BEYOND “BUSINESS”?

Is it time to take a breather in your creative business quest? “NEVER!” is what most entrepreneurs would respond. 

In fact, I would go so far as to say that

“MANY TIMES NEVER” is what those who are truly creative entrepreneurs would actually think!

This week brings one of those rare-breed individuals I’m describing: Valerie Connelly. She has come to the point of taking a breather long enough to present 35 years worth of dedicated creative focus on refining and building one single product to the point of readiness — delivering genuine women’s empowerment!

This experience includes: writing/producing/acting in three original stage musicals, creating CD albums and hundreds of original songs, backed by 16 years of publishing/editing/ designing 225 books of every genre for both US and foreign authors (plus six of her own!). . . add 17 years of classical piano training, 2 years in the Peace Corps in West Africa, 25 years of teaching high school French and (often on the same days) entertaining in Chicago nightclubs, being an award-winning painter, acclaimed block-art artist, patented inventor, and a “dog whisperer” . . . all while raising two life-success daughters and inspiring her two grandchildren.

Thursday night, the Watkins Theater at the Watkins College of Art in Nashville, Tennessee, is hosting Valerie and many of her supporters to a long-awaited professional actors’ “Live Readers Theater Performance” of her totally-original, full-length, pre-production musical film: “LOVE IS…” 

Click HERE to see the sizzle reel!

The live narrated script-reading presentation includes big-screen video representations that accompany each of the film’s 16 original songs

The planned movie, with a view toward 2020 production, has been endorsed by world-famous-and-respected  performer, Kelsey Grammer through his production company (Grammnet Productions) crediting LOVE IS… script, music, story, and plans as follows:

“A truly inspirational

 

and touching journey

of life, love and laughter,

with a timeless message.

Delightful!”

NEWLY “ATTACHED” TO LOVE IS…

— As Film Music Composer and Selective Music Arranger, GEOFF KOCH brings 22 years of high profile music composing expertise to LOVE IS… He is President, Nashville Composers Association, and President of SCORE-COM, working in tandem with FILM-COM. Geoff is at the forefront of composing for productions in all genres that take place in planetarium domes worldwide . . .

— As Music Supervisor, ANDY HILL is a 9-time Academy Award-winner in film music. He led the “Disney Renaissance Decade” as VP of Music Production for Walt Disney Studios, including direct music supervision of The Lion King, Beauty and The Beast, and Sister Act, and subsequently for his own firm: Message In A Bottle, Ed Wood, James and the Giant Peach, and Happy Feet… before winning a Grammy Award for Best Musical Album for Children for Elmo in Grouchland.

We wish Valerie and her team

great success in their pursuit

to “go beyond” and “rise above”

in their quest to prove that

BUSINESS WORKS.

YOUR BUSINESS STAR…

FILM INDUSTRY LESSONS

Just brought my “think out of the box” business life and teachings back from the Cannes Film Festival.

The experience opened doors. New insights planted themselves in the middle of my pursuit path. The surroundings of this venture, highlighted by a breath-taking daylong drive from Geneva through the Alps to the French Riviera, were amplified by the seemingly endless clamber of the 12,000+ Festival participants who each in their own way sought the spotlights and camera lenses… often, while pretending not to.

The experience literally seemed to stun-gun my mind. What did I learn that might be good food for thought for every business and professional practice owner and manager?

Working smarter, not harder is no better than working harder not smarter.

Business success come only through a strong sense of balance.

A good place to start improving your business balance is to take inventory of your commitment to never cease searching for ways to improve your product, your service, your attitude, your story, your people, and the lives of your customers, clients and patients.

Serving as a makeshift Executive Producer for an emerging  (pre-production) original feature musical film (LOVE IS… Click on logo above for the less-than-2-minute “Sizzle Reel”) has been a major chunk of my life since helping to launch the forerunner stage version three years ago.

I’ve learned –sometimes the hard way–  that with every tiny aspect of a film –from words, music, and sound effects, to direction, production, gestures, budgets, lighting, cameras, film-editing, marketing, branding, promotion, legalities, you name it:

Everything changes every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year.

It is changing me as I write this and will no doubt continue to as long as I keep open-minded enough to accept that. It will change even as the movie is being filmed and recorded and edited and even after it’s done in the ways that it is branded and promoted.

WOW!, you might say, that sounds nerve-wracking!

Well guess what else I learned? Every business has the same dynamics. We have simply come to accept that many of the businesses and practices we own and manage never change. We often just accept that our businesses follow specific rules and that those rules limit change.

BALONEY!

Each of us changes every minute of every day in some way. We simply turn ourselves off to being receptive to that thought because it somehow threatens our existences.

Rising above that “being stuck in the mud” mindset is key to achieving record growth with our business pursuits and ourselves.

Think about all that next time you watch a movie… maybe even before that? It’s called renewing your own sense of self-awareness. What have you got to lose besides a false sense of self-security?

Want more?

Text 1.302.752.8505 or phone 1.931.854.0474 or write: 370 S. Lowe Ave. A-148, Cookeville, TN 38501 or free weekly podcast: www.newstalk941.com/podcasts (scroll down program sections to BUSINESSWORKS and click on any of 60 business topics. Feedback always welcome!

SAVVY BOSSES BEAT

THE GREAT

AMERICAN SLOWDOWN

Unless you’re caught up with ushering in holiday retail and online madness shopping clamor, you are likely entering “The Great American Slowdown” holiday season, and taking that much-awaited business relief break for yourself.

This is not to suggest you divert from the certainty of increased family interactions. 

It IS, however, to point out that as a suddenly relaxing American business or professional practice boss (Owner, Partner, Operator, Manager, Entrepreneur, CEO, CFO, CTO, or one of those other corporate muckity-muck titles), you may well be missing your single greatest business growth opportunity of the year ahead. 

Speaking of “ahead,” putting your hands behind your head (and feet onto your desk) for longer than some deep stress-relief breaths — instead of simply shifting productivity gears (like your savvy competitors will surely be doing) can be just enough to send your happy business existence down the tubes. 

By not making the most of business downtime to give yourself and your business interests a thorough checkup, and revitalize your  business growth plans for 2019, you may well be short-circuiting what little entrepreneurial think time you will have once January hangovers and New Years Resolutions begin to fade.

Putting a stethoscope to your business structure, employees, customer base, ambitions, growth directions… and whatever “map” you may have in your head for how to get where you’re going needs to be your first step.

Remind yourself that once 2019 gets on a roll (usually around mid-January) it may be too late to take the time out to reassess, reevaluate, and adjust goals and directions.

NOW is the ideal time (or after Christmas, if you’re in retail) to take a step back from where you’ve had your head buried all year to inventory what worked and what didn’t, what needs to be adjusted, what needs to be dumped… and PUT IT IN WRITING!

What? Who needs that? I put stuff on my PC, notebook, laptop, smart phone… writing?! Humbug!

When you put important ideas, ambitions, guidelines, goals onto paper with (OMG) a pen(!), there is a major physiological difference. Ideas from your brain that go through your neck to your shoulder, arm, wrist, hand, fingers, and into a pen, then ink, and transfer to a piece of paper, you create a more personally binding commitment than with keying in any kind of electronic transfer.

Humans do not commit actions to words on a screen, but we do follow-through with a greater sense of determination, open-mindedness and commitment when we put our words to paper.

This doesn’t mean everything has to be rigid or etched-in-stone. Effective planning and goals still need to be specific, realistic, flexible, due-dated, and in writing to be effective!  

So, when things change–as they always do–in ways that impact what we are aiming for, we simply re-write our plans on another piece of paper and tear up the old one . . . and, like the battery-run rabbit, “keep on going.”  

BusinessWORKS.US

COACHING BUSINESS & PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE GROWTH NOW

New book: Healthcarepreneurs — free 24/7 access to weekly

22-minute “BUSINESSWORKS”  Radio Show/Podcast

 Creating Record Client Impact Since 1981

 DIVISION OF THEWRITERWORKS.COM, LLC.

GROW YOUR BUSINESS OR

HEALTHCARE PRACTICE NOW!

Get your FREE no-strings-attached

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based on 100+ years’ experience

NO TRICKS. NO GIMMICKS. NO RECORDS KEPT OF YOUR VISITS. This is not some online “upgrade” deal. Get your free 22-minute podcast 24/7 via computer or mobile phone. Pick any night-or-day time slot that fits your schedule (Listen before, during/after work–even driving). Nothing to subscribe to. Replay it whenever you want.

EACH 22-MINUTE PODCAST gives you tools and ideas for achieving fast-track success with your small-to-medium-sized business or healthcare practice… and grow it quicker than you can do by yourself. No time limits! We don’t chase after you. We don’t even know who or where you are. Start with a “Sampler Visit”—> CLICK HERE (then scroll down to “BUSINESSWORKS” and pick any topic!)

SIMPLY LISTEN WHENEVER YOU CAN to get the best of two diverse approaches to solving your own business and practice growth problems. We share what we’ve learned to help you avoid wasting time, money, and energy.

YOU GET:  STIMULATING, PRACTICAL

“HOW-TO” IDEAS, PROVEN INPUT AND

ADVICE THAT GETS RESULTS. YOU GET

CAUTIONS AND ENCOURAGEMENT, PLUS

 WAYS TO DEAL MORE EFFECTIVELY WITH:

Branding. Marketing. Advertising. Sales. Community and Public Relations. Customer Service and CRM. Recruiting, Hiring and Firing. Management Coaching. Staff Training. Investments. Money/Resource Management. Outsourcing. Dealing with Partners/ Investors. New Revenue Streams. Startups/Revitalizations. Stress and Time Management. Communication Skills. Strategic Planning. Dealing With Government Agencies. Much More.

CO-HOSTS HAL ALPIAR AND JOHNNY STITES (and their periodic guests) help you sort through issues, stimulate your creativity, and learn to trust your own business sense and judgments.

YOU GET  HANDS-ON-EXPERIENCED INPUT from professional coaches who help grow all kinds of specialized and competitive enterprises… from construction and skilled labor to retail, manufacturing, and service entities… from healthcare practices and facilities of every specialty and description… medical centers, hospital departments/ institutes, immediate and long-term care facilities.

NOT ONLY DO BOTH HAL & JOHNNY PROVIDE a combined 100+ years of success track-record. They also offer proven expertise in managing the uniqueness’s of family businesses and in positioning nonprofit and creative project businesses and organizations for long-term growth.

IF YOU’RE INTERESTED

BEYOND PODCASTS . . .

CALL HAL AT 1.931.854.0474 

OR JOHNNY AT 1.931.261.7003