It used to be just the Post

Office took forever to get

the message to you. Now,

dumb emails are joining

the snail parade.

The Post Office–no doubt next in line for more government bailouts of lethargic incompetent organizations–remains fully responsible for (and permanently disabled from) getting slaughtered in the marketplace.

They’ve been pummeled by emails, FedEx, UPS, and all the other non-government-affiliated, more convenient, better quality, better performing delivery and shipping methods and organizations.

These private enterprise businesses, keep in mind, bloomed overtly, and directly under the Post Office’s wanted-poster eyes.

But email snailmail?

Email communication failures that end up delaying message accuracy are strictly the doing of the senders.

Every time an email fails (I calculate the frequency of non-spam fairly important yet thoroughly convoluted messages arriving bedraggledly into the stage center glare of my monitor screen spotlight to be about four or five times a week), it’s the sender’s fault.

It’s something like throwing a fourth quarter tie-game seventy-yard Hail Mary Pass directly into the encircling waiting arms of the fleet-footed, leaping downfield receiver, but it turns out to be a golfball. 

______________________________

First off, emails are not just short letters or long text messages. They do not take the place of one-on-one or group meetings. They are not substitutes for phone calls. Carrier pigeons? Well.  

Emails are emails are emails.

• When we GET them, they are either junk or important, or they’re provocative or relevant-sounding enough to get past the spam sentries (but are still probably junk).
• When we SEND them, we labor over them and painstakingly tend to editing and refining the message and recipient list and including just the right amount of cordiality. I mean, don’t act like you’ve never sat back and tried to imagine how your message will be received.

OR,

• We just mindlessly FWD those we think will amuse or entertain or educate certain collections of family, friends, and acquaintances.

Right? Ah, but sadly, the answer is: no; that’s not all.

There is one more omnipresent category –the silent majority it seems to me– that careth not a thing about who or what circumstances may be on the receiving end.

(At least on the phone, you can hear if someone has a miserable cold!) 

Is it just my imagination, or do most emails lack forethought, editing care, and common courtesy?

Hmmm? 

Since the electronic nature of the medium is so impersonal, we are therefore justified in acting impersonal with the tone and content of what we send? Is it really necessary to not include some sort of greeting or sign-off courtesy?

Why not just staple-gun the thing onto the tree in front of my office and wait for me to notice it?

It really doesn’t take much to say “Hi Joe” which is a nice thing, unless your name is Diane or something. And it’s not like time-consuming hard work to end with “Regards” or “Have a great day” or :Stuff it!” or SOMEthing. Really.

Which brings the subject of ESNAILMAIL full circle. Why is email time-consuming? Because too many email senders “wing it” and pay little or no attention to detail, or rely fully on attachments which don’t open, or that set off alarms, or come packaged with 27 cute little pop-ups trying to sell exploding washcloths (no need to launder ;<) . . .

. . . and then –because they don’t get it right the first time– have to RE-send a corrected or edited or updated version to say what they should have taken the time and trouble to say right the first time. VOILA! A phone call would have saved time. 

Oh, and while I’m at it, please stop with the Reply emails that say things like: “OK” or “Got it” or Sure thing” or Later” or “Let’s do it!” –especially with all 106 prior emails in the string still attached.

OK? THX.

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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!

If you don’t know how to 

apply what you know,

you know nothing!

I saw some guest blog post somewhere today that made me laugh out loud because it naively proclaims that “expertise trumps experience” and then proceeds to flex 20-something-years-old muscle with empty rants and raves about Internet skills, from blogging to SEO and beyond.

Not being one to let sleeping dogs lie, I submit the following for your consideration:

• Younger generations have quite literally constellations worth of knowledge to offer to any given situation.

• They are born of Google and Microsoft and American Idol and Harry Potter. They are filled with energy drinks that make a cup of coffee seem like Darvon.

• We rickity old antique types watch high performance skateboarders, or teenage text message thumbs at work in astonishment — young people ooze skills that older people could never even have dreamed of possessing.

• And I do once remember hearing, at age 32, that I was “older than dirt” from a 21-year-old who was quite serious at the time. 

Yet something tugs at my sleeve. Is it per chance that discarded old notion of respect for experience?

Perhaps the tugging is because experience is almost necessarily a product of quiet reflection while “expertise” practically requires a shout from the rooftops to get the attention of others. 

Maybe I live in fantasyland, but it seems to me that –other than some phenom celebrity types: Justin and Hanna? Or the dudes who invented Twitter and Facebook– there’s really no one on that horizon of greatness that once ushered in Bill Gates and Steven Jobs.

Ah, but then this isn’t about comparing generations.

It’s about the fact that expertise means absolutely nothing if you don’t have the experience base to know how to use it productively.

No need to look much beyond the world of professional sports for a few hundred perfect examples.

The Internet? Well, aside from Al Gore’s claims to have once invented it, I believe that the “expertise” involved is in fact not with any single age or experience group, and research –even that which is distorted by Internet industry research leaders– is aptly underpinned with total age diversity in the expertise of blogging to SEO and beyond.

Ah, but then this isn’t about the Internet either, really. It’s all about the fact that regardless of all the wonderful online skills in one’s possession, not having a way to get paid for exercising them –because of lack of experience– also means absolutely nothing.

And there’s no need to look much beyond the artificial unemployment figures being cast about by self-serving politicians, who trickle on down from the White House, to clearly see a few million examples.

_____________________

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Expertise (whatever that means, and from whatever sources declare themselves to possess it) is simply a specialized knowledge base of how things happen or function.

Experience is knowing how to put that knowledge base to work to get results.

It’s pretty silly to be trying to make a case for one at the expense of the other. 

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 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!

It may be time to re-visit MBWA

(Management By Walking Around)

 Why? Because most 

business meetings are 

like playing SCRABBLE 

under water!

Underwater SCRABBLE? A lot of slow-motion time is wasted trying to earn points for drumming up obscure words that play off of what others have or have not produced. And–in the end–someone wins backpats; the word connection hodgepodge that surfaces has no meaning; and the board is dismantled until the next session when it starts all over again!

If you absolutely positively definitely have to have a meeting, do yourself a favor and work the following items into your meeting prep checklist:

• Plan your meetin’ eatin’s!

If you are planning a major session and are looking for those in attendance to contribute mush — jelly, be sure to put out a plateful of jelly donuts. That will almost guarantee you the results you seek.

If, on the other hand, you are hopeful of some meaningful input from those you invite, put out some meaningful snacks. It doesn’t take any more time (and only marginally more money, maybe) to serve fresh fruit and raw veggies with a dip, and perhaps some cheese and crackers.

• Take time with your invite list!

There’s nothing worse than having people dragged into a meeting who have no real purpose in being there and nothing of value to contribute. Think hard about who needs to be part of your dog and pony show and stop asking those to attend who you simply want to impress, or test. Do those things in other ways.

Their time is your money!

• Share your agenda!

This is the world’s biggest stumbling block for meetings. Keep your agenda clear, simple, unencumbered, and targeted to those you invite. Circulate the agenda two business days ahead of time and ask for input that you may want to consider in the way of additions and deletions.

Have the finalized agenda printed in clear large block letters on a piece of cardboard or a whiteboard displayed for everyone tom see and stay tuned into. 

When you run the meeting, STICK TO THE AGENDA. When someone brings up something that’s not itemized, let that person know your level of interest in the subject, ask to table it for another time (next meeting, two minutes after this meeting, 37 years from now, whatever), and explain that this meeting is for this agenda, and thank her/him. 

• Watch the clock!

This is not something you normally want to do or have others do, but it is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT that you start the meeting at exactly the time it is scheduled to start, regardless of who’s present or absent, and that you end it exactly when it is scheduled to end, regardless of what’s been covered or not.

Use follow-up sessions for issues not addressed.

• Consider a room with no chairs!

If the subject matter needs to be dealt with quickly and there’s simply no time for side-trip excursions, and you want to minimize chatter and delays, use a room with no chairs. You’ll be amazed at how rapid and productive the meeting becomes.

Some meetings of course are necessary, but most are not. When it’s really necessary, make the most of it by focusing on the small things. Attention to planning details makes implementation productive.

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    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!

Git yer glove

an’ git in the game!

Keep your eye on the ball! Catch the ball! Throw the ball! See the ball! Hit the ball! This is not advanced calculus, statistical derivation, chemical formulae, rocket science or brain surgery. It’s simple concentration. Concentration.

Odds are that the business or professional practice owner, partner, operator, or manager who has been blessed with strong concentration skills has put her or his business way ahead of the game . . . is already keeping an eye on the ball, and achieving the success that many entrepreneurs merely dream about.

• Can you edit a technical report on a work-from-home day while the TV blares, the kids scream and the neighbor’s dog barks incessantly at scampering squirrels? 
• Can you outline a strategic plan while sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic?
• Can you draft your tax return while chaperoning a birthday party at Chucky Cheese?
• Can you write a publishable poem while touring or working on an active construction site?
• Can you read and grasp a chapter in Follett’s Fall of Giants or Gregory David Roberts’ Shantaram or Gruber’s The Book of Air and Shadows (or extract some meaningful business guidance from the Bible?) while you’re sitting in Grand Central Station at rush hour?

If you answer “Yes” to any of the above, you can probably answer “Yes” to all of the above, and probably need no help or pep talk today, and should just go your merry way and return Saturday for some new stimulation. Adios y gracias!

Now, if you’re still here, allow me to suggest that you might start exploring ways to start out “on the ball” every day, all day long. Because that’s what it will take if you expect to catch that shooting star you fantasize about. You thought maybe you could take a pass an hour or two a day or a day or two a week? Sorry Charlie!

But it’s so hard! So is success! Unless of course you choose for it to be easy, in which case it will definitely be easier than if you choose for it to be hard! Got it? It’s all a matter of improving your concentration skills and ability to focus full attention on what you’re doing AS you’re doing it — on keeping your mind in the here-and-now present moment.

People with great concentration skills are those who understand that their pulse and heartbeats and breathing are the most immediate human signals of here-and-nowness.

If you’re an entrepreneur and dismiss these kinds of messages off-hand, don’t waste the negative energy.

You cannot ignore yourself and expect your business to win!

If you believe —as most of the thousands of small business principals I’ve known seem to me to believe– that you are here in your business and community, on this planet, to make a difference, you need to accept that the place to start and to keep your eye on the ball with is your SELF. Here’s one place to begin or booster-shot that journey. 

Play Businessball every day (and Familyball too for the positiveness and high energy it will prompt). Everything will grow with your growing focus. Get it. Grow it. Keep it. Spread it around.

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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!

Ah, yes, and yet another great 

business lesson from

Mr. Obama

Just imagine where your business would be if you kept only 24% of the promises you make. Now that may be some heavy-duty food for thought, but it shouldn’t be hard to answer the question. How about: “belly-up!”? That would probably be a realistic answer. 

The sad truth is that this 24% wasn’t plucked out of the air.

 It’s what was reported in today’s satellite radio world news as the percentage of promises that Mr. Obama made during his 2008 campaign that he has actually fulfilled.

I guess, for a politician, that’s staggeringly great, but –for you or me– we’d be out of business!

Just another reason we need to believe in (and fend for) ourselves and other small business owners. Just another reason to not trust politicians. I mean, the man was apparently counted at having made 550 some odd promises and –in the face of the good old political standby motto: “Under-Promise and Over-Deliver”– proceeded to do exactly the opposite!

Gee, great example, huh? Y’think our kids and grandkids should be taking lessons in good conduct and leadership from the man who pretends to exercise both? It’s not just a sad commentary on the times, it’s a disillusioning, amoral, disgraceful behavior pattern that surely we do not want to instill or nurture in our young people.

And, unquestionably, we cannot afford for our businesses to practice this “Promise ’em anything, but deliver less than a quarter of it” attitude. There’s just so long it can be masked with fake smiles and polished oratory. Customers will not keep lining up to buy anything. It is just not the way that honorable and smart businesspeople behave.

Even though voters have proven themselves utterly stupid time and time again, customers aren’t stupid.

Money straight from the pocket (even if it’s just a bunch of nickles) is more carefully analyzed and evaluated than the trillions none of us can relate to that slowly drain our assets and resources over decades.

So what’s a small business owner to do? Keep exercising caution as you spend, but –more importantly– exercise integrity. Be honest in your dealings with others. Win a reputation for it. Keep your promises. At all costs, even when you end up dented, honor your commitments. Deliver what you say you’re going to deliver.

And stand up for yourself, and for the authenticity you use to conduct your business, by taking a leadership role in representing to your elected officials –from your town hall to the White House– that you will no longer stand for deception and manipulation and outright lying about what will be delivered. Intentions alone don’t win OR work! 

Nip corruption and empty promises in the bud! Make more of an effort every day to serve as an example to others of what you believe is possible for your business and your industry or profession . . . and your government. When enough of us do it, enough others will sit up and pay attention.

There are 30 million small business owners in America. Surely we can make a difference. It starts with you, today and tomorrow morning. 

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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!

Mixed in with your Employees,

Customers, Vend0rs, SalesReps,

Investors: is a “Psycho” or two!

Channel-surfing the other night, a woman addicted for over twenty years to daily feasting on toilet paper! I was promptly reminded that there are weirdos everywhere, and the business world is no exception. Thankfully, I never had to work with the likes of a TP-eating sicko, but I have had to deal with some genuine head cases, and guess what?

The task is not as impossible as it may seem at first. The key is to separate yourself emotionally from the smoking volcano. Rise above it and give it as much space and patience as possible.

You don’t want to be a shrink?

Sometimes in life, when you’ve directly or indirectly chosen to box yourself into an undesirable situation, there’s no choice.

On those occasions (which hopefully are rare), turn on your alert system without setting off any alarms. Tune in to what’s in front of you. Take some deep breaths to help yourself get focused. Contact your inner “adult” — the part of you that’s calm and caring and empathetic but that’s –as Thoreau once urged us to be– forever on the alert.

Recognize that your self-identity (how you see yourself) needs to step back and your personality (how others see you) needs to step up. People who are in difficult emotional or mental states (or physically ill or injured) will rarely have any interest in what you think of yourself. It’s difficult for them to think much beyond their own skin.

If you’ve ever had any practice with a cranky baby or temper tantrum toddler, you’re way ahead of the game.

Instead of trying to override or overpower a troubled individual, try to “buy into” a compatible level of relating and then exercise a gently persistent adult-like tone. Without being bossy or pushy or demanding, simply be rational and understanding. Be persuasive by not allowing yourself to get drawn into the other person’s dilemma or issues.

Does all this take time and effort? Is it hard work?

Hey, do shrinks get burned out?

It’s definitely not a frame of mind you want to be in for any lengthy period of time, but it’s also one that –if you make up your mind to commit your energy to assisting someone else instead of thinking about yourself– gives you an opportunity to help an unbalanced someone to gain enough stability to function without the presence of threat.

If your own personality tends to be explosive, you may want to stay in your rubber room and not deal with others at all, but then, you wouldn’t be much of a leader, would you? Business success requires leadership at every level, not just sales or just innovative thinking or just financial management. People are your most important asset!

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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!

C’mon . . .When was the last

time you ever remember 

in your whole entire life

having a “trillion”

of ANYthing????  

Have you been listening to all the politicians talk about budget-slashing? They must be kidding!

Hey, it’s definitely no joke the economic mess we’re in. And TRUTH? Truth is -no matter who says what– truth is that we’ve got to live with it all for at least another three years. It’ll take a year and a half or more just for the new White House to undo the reckless spending tangle that the great “Hope and Change” hero created.

Business Owners Beware!

If you own a business and you’re not already working at unseating the socialism plague that’s practically brought you to your knees, you must be part of that crowd that thinks it understands “trillions.” I just read somewhere that a million dollars a day every day since Jesus died wouldn’t even add up to close to a trillion dollars.

The deal is that you must protect your budget without tearing it out by the roots. Oh wait, that’s your hair. Well, the thing is that if your business budget isn’t bare bones yet, you may already be out of hair and roots!

Here’s an example of spending priorities

that smart business owners must consider:

• MARKETING — You should be spending money for a professional marketing or branding writer to create your sales messages, but you should NOT be spending money needlessly to get your messages out.

Maybe that sounds like a “Catch 22”? It’s not. There are plenty of ways to reach your target market effectively for free, but you’d better be saying something worthy of capturing attention, creating interest, stimulating desire, and bringing about action and satisfaction, or get back to your budget board and start all over!

• OVERHEAD — Of course you have to pay the mortgage or the rent, but can you sublet part or all the space to a business that operates when yours doesn’t? Many instructional program businesses operate in evening or weekend hours. Do you have extra space you don’t need that you can separate from your workspace?

A lumberyard office building barters one small corner of space to a moonlighting graphic designer who provides the lumber company with free brochure and flyer designs in exchange for the space, electricity, and computer hookup.

• PAYROLL —Maybe space-sharing’s not practical, but what about sharing people? A centralized reception area and receptionist can save two or three or four businesses money and afford to hire a hard-working quality employee.

There’s much to be said for the old entrepreneurial “incubator” days, where all kinds of services and workspaces were shared. These included common area receptionists, centralized booked-time conference rooms, cleaning supplies and maintenance services, delivery and fuel costs, security systems, office supplies. If you can think it, try it!

• PROFESSIONAL SERVICES — When did you ever meet an accountant or lawyer or consultant or creative service person who wouldn’t be please to offer a discount for two, two, two clients in one? (Oh, that was “mints”? Sorry.)  

This kind of arrangement is especially win-win when common elements or interests prevail. Adjoining physical therapy and occupational therapy offices that both require similar electronic medical forms maintenance for insurance coverage reimbursements. A publisher and designer who both need a copyright lawyer.

Dig out your imagination here. Do the railroad track warning thing: STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN. Look around at what you’re doing from the standpoint of sharing, bartering, co-sponsoring . . . and maybe you too can “slash a trillion” or so!

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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!

“The road to hell,”

we’re told,

“is paved with them”… so 

say what you mean and,

 yup, mean what you say!

Is that the same as walk the talk?

Anytime you lead someone on, set somebody up, promise results, or guarantee satisfaction (even if you only indirectly imply it, and, yes, even if you genuinely mean it!) by assuring or reassuring her or him, you’d better deliver or be prepared to banish your business to Chapter 11.

Like going to that place many think of as hell, people may not go straight there for a bad deed, but sometime soon, not delivering the goods, so to speak, can put you on that bad deed road headed for what’s popularly believed to be a very hot climate.

I’m not just talking about customer service. That’s only one piece of the pie. Have you promised something you didn’t deliver to your employees? To one employee? To your suppliers? To one supplier? To your investors or lenders? To a job applicant? To a sales rep? To a community, industrial, or professional group?

Hopefully, like jolting yourself awake in mid-snore at your desk, or catching your mouth in mid-yawn during a meeting, you moved quickly and decisively to cover it up and excuse yourself . . . and make amends. There’s really no excuse. Behavior is a choice. Not fulfilling on promises is equivalent to digging yourself a low-trust grave.

Why am I beating on this?

Because it happens every day, every minute of every day. And it happens to the best of us. We get lazy or forgetful or preoccupied, and simply overlook that even though we properly address the envelope and put the right postage on it, if we fail to mail the letter, both the letter and our intentions are meaningless.

So bottom line then is that it takes more than a calendar, more than a hand-held device reminder beep, more than an assistant’s verbal prod, more than a note pinned on our sleeve. It takes a high integrity attitude. It takes a constant state of awareness about what makes others perceive us as honorable, and living up to it.

Don’t make appointments

you can’t or won’t keep.

Pretty basic, almost insulting advice, right?

Wrong.

Did it make you think? Well? 

There’s no room for the lackadaisical attitude suggested by such behavior under any circumstances, but especially in such a consistently spiraling economy (and don’t think because the media and the White House claim otherwise that  the corner has been turned. In fact, there’s a perfect example of not meaning what you say!) because the person or group you mislead will simply cross the street and find a more honorable entity to deal with.

Surely you didn’t bust your butt all these years simply to blow off what you’ve achieved with a cavalier attitude, or by not coming across with what you’ve intended to do or said you would deliver. Be a person of your word. Promised performance counts for more than price, package, promotion. and personality combined!

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 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!

If you’re not

charging forward,

you may be

wearing blinders

 …or maybe you’re just not

  an entrepreneur after all.

More than simply a southern United States colloquialism (meaning to finish an action, to complete the job at hand), the “Git R Done” expression could realistically be the motto for entrepreneurs everywhere.

There is no greater thrust of urgency in business than the entrepreneurial pursuit of making an idea work, of making something happen . . . of getting the job done.

If you are genuinely serious about starting up a (or numerous) business venture(s) –especially in this continually failing economy (and don’t believe the figures being tossed out by mainstream media’s talking heads to the contrary)– you must be willing to arm yourself with an action attitude.

This means, among other things, that the kinds of delay tactics exercised by 9.9 of every 10 lawyers is not going to be a productive approach for you. (And, by the way, you know when you’re doing tasks of avoidance, right?)

Having an “Action Attitude” means that you need to get your act together to the point where offering excuses (of any kind) doesn’t cut it.

It means that it’s time (assuming you’re still with me on this) to stop dilly-dallying (You like that expression? Came from my mother!). It’s time to take your show on the road.

It’s time to stop studying and analyzing and worrying about “what if?” It’s time to follow Nike’s advice, and just do it!

There’s an old TV beer commercial that proclaimed “You only go around once in life!”

Hey, maybe you do, maybe you don’t.

But –for sure– you only get one chance at a first impression, a first new business launch, a first new product line extension, or a first new revenue stream, or new service offering.

Yes, there is always (With appreciative thanks to “The Chairman of the Board,” alias “Mr. Blue Eyes,” Frank Sinatra, who maybe you’ve never heard of, but who sang a big-time song to the cause of )”The Second Time Around.”

And “things” can be easier the second time around, but they’re never the same, and can never have the same first-time impression.

You’ve got an idea you believe in? Give it

substance. Polish it up. Test it. Launch it.

If you’re going to exercise big-time effort trying to justify yourself, trying to raise “enough money to do it right” or trying to swamp the competition in one fell swoop (now there’s an image!), you are probably going to live a happier life working for a corporate giant or plodding government agency.

Certainly –under those circumstances–

“entrepreneurship” doesn’t ring a bell! 

If any of what’s here seems in the least bit discouraging, odds are pretty good that you are somehow blocking yourself from being venturesome, from taking reasonable risks.

You could be harboring fears that will prevent you from making your ideas work. You may be blocking your own success. Work at it. Or see a shrink.

But don’t charge forward with blinders on.

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US or 931.854.0474

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

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

If you are one of the following, you are all of them . . .!

Small Business and Professional

Practice Owners and Managers,

Educators, Sales Professionals,

and Entrepreneurs

What makes you different? Just the path you’ve chosen to take? Think about the one you’re on. 

It doesn’t matter if you teach third grade, own a chain of pizza parlors, sell advertising space or socks or perfume or gaskets. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a heart surgeon, hot dog vendor, social media guru. or a charity fundraiser. It makes no difference whether you manage a work team, a sports team, or function like the Lone Ranger.

The bottom line is that you’re not a government incompetent or corporate mogul or union thug, which means that you work for a living.

You work at what you do, what you support, believe in, were trained for, invented, designed, inherited, created, or stumbled into.

Does that pretty much cover it?

Ah, but what makes you the same? How could such diverse specialists have common grounds? Well, hey, you’re all leaders, right? You’re all communicators. And you are all (like it or not, willing to admit it or not) heavily engaged in selling on a daily basis.

You spend the bulk of your energy attempting to engage the interest and support of others in the ambitions, goals,  practices, opportunities, beliefs, ideas, and challenges that occupy your table, fill your plate and dance around your dining room.

Even when you’re not “at work,” even when you’re at family gatherings (you know, Ground Hog’s Day and Boxing Day, stuff like that), you’re still selling (oh, that nasty word again, especially for all you professional practice types; I know, there’re not too many brain surgeons rolling up their sleeves in supermarkets these days doing a “tell ya what I’m gonna do for you” presentation. There is that guy,though, with the sets of knives . . .)

What is it that you do when you get ready to give someone your spiel? Isn’t it that you (and sales professionals know this better than the rest of the world) are seeking common ground, shared interests, places where you can better relate to your audience? Aren’t you looking for places your paths have crossed?

Oh, my, there go all those light bulbs at once. Wait a second will you while my transition lenses back off. Ah, such a flood of light! 

So back to places your paths have crossed . . . of course that’s what we instinctively seek! Isn’t it, by the way, the premise for Facebook and LinkedIn?  

Whether we’re teaching a classroom full of students, explaining a procedure to a patient, a reason to donate, a special deal on foreclosed property, the benefits of sushi, the truck’s suspension system awards, how the use of Twitter can outperform Facebook, why everyone should buy a new mattress every ten days, or how easy it is to use this new bookkeeping system . . . we are constantly looking for common interest areas we can use to establish rapport.

We go to great lengths and ask a zillion questions to get to the point of “So you’re a Cubs fan, huh? Poor guy; you’ve really suffered over the years. I used to hang out with a few of them when I commuted from New York to Chicago for three years; I had an office at One East Wacker Drive on the Loop. What’s the name of that rooftop restaurant there?”

Well, maybe not all that dicey, but you get the point. We all seek crossed paths. They help us get closer to what’s under our skin. Prospecting is easier, but –more importantly– growing our relationships with existing customers, clients, patients, employees, suppliers, investors, lenders, and referrers is also easier.

Stop fighting it. Getting to know others better is a pathway all by itself . . . and one you can never tell where it will lead, but usually it will go where your authentic self opens doors and focuses spotlights. Open minds open doors.

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931.854.0474   Hal@BusinessWorks.US

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