Mandated national healthcare

means mandated

national poverty!

There is only one solution  to dealing with U.S. healthcare costs escalating faster than inflation:

Business competition through privatization on a state-by-state basis.

The sooner  the government gets this and takes REAL steps in this direction, the quicker we’re going to see healthcare that’s both meaningful and affordable! 

There’s no longer any doubt  about it. Just listen to the experts. Look into the heart and soul of your own business experience. Small business simply cannot survive the financial crush of a mandated, dictated, universal healthcare plan for all citizens!

If you own or operate a business,  and you are not all-out crusading for healthcare delivery through business competition and privatization on a state-by-state basis, you are living in fantasyland.

Your business will  positively surf into the poorhouse on the next big wave. You and your business have one chance to survive, and only one…

That single chance rests squarely on your shoulders. It may require you to take steps you’ve never taken before.

It requires you to  contact your elected representatives and tell them that you do NOT want dictated, mandated healthcare because it will break what’s left of the economy’s back, bankrupt small businesses everywhere, and lead to exceptionally LOW quality professional care.

After all, do you  really want some know-nothing politician from 2o States away dictating what doctors you can and can’t see for a sick or injured loved one, or for yourself?

Are you ready and willing to put your life decisions  in the hands of someone with no healthcare knowledge, and who doesn’t even understand the business of healthcare, and then –on top of all that– end up with an inferior, low-grade, poorly-trained care provider?

We have decision-makers who lack even basic business knowledge and experience but who are making business decisions about our healthcare that are impacting all of our lives.

We (all of us who own and operate our own businesses) need to barge into this  the same way we would if some unknowledgeable, inexperienced upstart arrived at our doorsteps tomorrow morning and tried to wrest control of our businesses from us.

These are,  after all, the circumstances that are in fact headed for our doorsteps right now.

Will YOU speak up  to protect what you have built and created and what is rightfully yours, or stand aside and let uninformed outsiders rush in to re-set your business stage with fantasy props and the underpinnings of bankruptcy?  Call. Write. Email. Today. 

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… not the “beaten” path,

nor the one “less taken”

     When the last time you took a brand new business path? A new product launch? A new line or service extension? A new revenue stream? A new employment position? A new set of objectives, strategies, tactics? A new mission statement? A new vision statement? A new business start up?

     Was it successful? Did you bite the dust? What did you learn from it? Did you manage to stir up a lot of excitement that produced no payoff? Did you drag your butt into the thing and be greeted with enthusiasm personified? Did you charge at it head down and get a concussion when that wall came at you from out of nowhere?

     As any jungle-dweller will readily attest, (and, yes, it IS a jungle out there!) taking a new path often requires the help of a machete and a whole lot of adrenaline. This means you may need to be ruthless as a fruit tree pruner in swinging that sword to create your path or passageway.

     Clinging to old practices won’t help you now anymore than a crank-up rotary dial phone and a ream of carbon paper (if you don’t know what either of these are, you are probably a reckless, young entrepreneur who doesn’t have any old practices to cling to anyway, and you might as well go zoom off to Facebook right now . . . or something).

     On the other hand, if you’re a bit older than the txtmsg generation and you’re a true entrepreneur who’s only willing to take reasonable risks, and you’re sincerely committed to launching a successful venture, OPEN YOUR MIND.

     Be receptive to all the people, places, and things that –until now– you would never have considered worthy of your time and attention. Why? Because some of the world’s greatest ideas… the ones that really put a new venture over the top… come from forcing yourself to think differently!

     A fleeting exposure to yoga, or a snorkeling or grocery-shopping trip, or an hour of playing on the floor with a baby or a puppy, or telling your least favorite brother-in-law that you love him! You’d be surprised at the doors that your open mind will open if you’ll just give it the chance!

     You’ve come this far, isn’t it worth a short experiment to put your brain in a completely opposite/foreign situation/environment –even for an hour– to see if something clicks that can put your venture over the top. Of course it is! Don’t cheat yourself of a great possibility. OPEN MINDS OPEN DOORS!          

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Does “Boardwalk Mentality”

Dominate Your Business?

     In a diner, I might expect it,  but I visited a doctor’s office today where a beautiful, large, flatscreen TV was broadcasting full volume coverage of the funeral of a man with a track-record of highly-questionable morals, who almost single-handedly was responsible for influencing  Federal Government leadership to wreck havoc on the entire US healthcare system.

     It seemed a strange backdrop  for a medical doctor… over-the-top accolades for a leading advocate of virtually dispensing with the entire spectrum of quality physician care. Are you so out of touch, doctor, that you think it just doesn’t matter what impressions you foster in your own waiting room?

     You surely never supported  the fanatical radical ideas that man nurtured, or you wouldn’t even be in practice, yet you choose to promote them to your patients? And don’t make the excuses that your receptionist picked the station. It’s your practice.

__________________________

     As a favor to a friend,  I recently gave a retailer a sample product to consider stocking. This product performed twice as effectively, lasted twice as long, and was twice as efficient, environmentally, as the product he presently sold. Oh, and it was half the price! He refused it.

     Did I mention that this product  also had no shipping costs because it was produced in the next town and that a percentage of the proceeds was kicked back to a community program that the retailer’s wife was engaged with? “No,” he said, “I don’t want it because it lasts too long, and I need repeat sales here so it’s better that the things people buy break down; then they have to come back for more!”

     Are YOU this out of touch?

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     When I taught business  at Ocean County College, near the famous boardwalks of Point Pleasant, Belmar, Seaside Heights, Asbury Park and Atlantic City, I used to refer to this out-of-touch kind of thinking as having a “Boardwalk Mentality.”

     Boardwalk stand owners  and operators fostered the attitude for years (and some, unfortunately, still do) that it’s okay to rip people off to get their money because –first of all, they’re on vacation and don’t really care how much they spend and –second, because those people will never be back again anyway, and even if they are, they won’t remember getting bilked.

     Obviously this kind of “screw the customer” thinking  doesn’t cut it anymore… neither does the suggestion of support for the antithesis of quality patient-care standards and your professional career, doctor!

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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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Whaddayou, a head case?

You think business is 

in cruise control?

     Are you on some other planet?  I heard someone say today that he thought business was holding steady and that this economic slump would be over soon. Those of you who know me know I am the eternal optimist. I always believe that –no matter what the odds–  things will work out for the best, and soon!

     But, this economy is out of control.  It’s one thing to think and act confidently and to believe in yourself and in what you’re capable of accomplishing. But it’s quite another to think that everything’s going to move out of your way as you stride forward. That’s like saying you’re a great swimmer so the tsunami that’s coming is no big deal.

     Sorry to have to be the messenger  (please don’t shoot!), but REALITY is that things are NOT going to move out of your way just because you have self-confidence. In today’s economy, you need a whole lot more than that. You need innovation, perseverance, and integrity.

• INNOVATION. If you are not coming up with a clear, new idea (SOME idea; it doesn’t have to be Earth-shattering), and seeing that idea all the way through to implementation EVERY WEEK, your business is not likely to survive another year!

• PERSEVERANCE. If you are not determinedly and tenaciously driving your business forward on a DAY-TO-DAY basis, your business is not likely to survive another month! 

• INTEGRITY. If you are not demonstrating HIGH TRUST evidence of integrity (doing the right thing even when nobody is looking) in EVERY business dealing you have every single hour of every single day, your business is not likely to survive another week!   

     Well,  here’s the good news:

     ALL OF IT–Innovation, Perseverance, Integrity– is a CHOICE!  You can choose to practice all three of these important qualities every day… every day! You simply need to make your mind up that self-confidence alone, without direction, accomplishes nothing. 

     But you can make  the conscious choice to make self-confidence work FOR you, right now by exercising innovation, perseverance and integrity in your very next encounter with an employee, customer, vendor, referrer, delivery or maintenance person, and the next human being you meet…and every one thereafter!  

     Right now!

     How hard is that?  As hard as you choose to make it!

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

Open Minds Open Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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!

Sometimes

Smaller Is Better!

Stop trying to jam  big-budget marketing into today’s low-budget economy! You’ll lose time, money, energy, and respect! (Maybe even your business!)

Having helped to start  hundreds of successful businesses, I’m rarely wrong when it comes to predicting business failure. And I’ll tell you right now that I can name a doctor, a manufacturer, a furniture retailer, a trucking business, a bank, a college, and two car dealerships that are positively headed South. The worst part is they don’t even know it. (Or perhaps they do and just don’t want to admit it!)

They’re all caught up  in trying to beat the economy by overwhelming it, like the poor schlemiel with a gambling addiction, throwing good money after bad. Each of these incipient failures have undertaken paths of reckless endangerment, thinking they are some kinds of hot-shot entrepreneurs. Sadly, they are not likely to survive long enough to see the economy turn.

     SOMETIMES  

(contrary to all the “enlargement” spam emails),

 SMALLER

(as the little Beetle automaker has proven time and again)

  IS BETTER!

     Marketing  doesn’t have to be exorbitantly expensive and splashy to be effective. There are some enormously successful direct mail campaigns out there that use postcards. Some of the world’s greatest print space advertisers have discovered they can be equally effective with great (tiny and infinitely less expensive) front page classified ads.

     Baseball managers  who lack big-time sluggers resort to winning games by playing “small ball” …focusing on the basics like not swinging at first pitches, drawing walks, bunting, base-stealing, catching with two hands (!) and playing “heads up” on each pitch. It works.

     Professionally-written  email campaigns can be hugely successful for no cost beyond a writer and a technician (and maybe a list rental). I am presently preparing a frugal campaign for one client that calls for strategically-placed highly-specialized business cards instead of the elaborate and expensive brochures he originally planned.

For another client,  I am preparing an inexpensive customer attitude survey that will get the business significant sales simply by virtue of asking for opinions (and might even collect some valuable ideas and feedback as well!) Bumper stickers are making a comeback.

Bartering  website banners and, of course, the much-talked-about use of social media also represent free and often very effective marketing tools. And, done right, not enough can be said about the value of professionally-done (and again, free) public relations news release and BUZZ (word-of-mouth) programs.

Before you dig  into your pocket to bet on yet another roll of the dice, stop and think about other effective, less-expensive ways to get your message across. The ways are there waiting for you. When smaller is better, open minds open doors!

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Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

“Stick to your knitting!”

(and risk going down the tubes!)

All of history’s great management gurus  have traditionally advised business owners and managers to stick to their knitting, as in “do what you do best, put your head down, and charge forward!”

But these are radical times  that call for radical solutions. “Sticking to your knitting” can earn you bankruptcy. Look around you for the proof. Would you like a list of all the (big AND small) single-minded-pursuit businesses that closed in the last two years?

Except for those few businesses  that thrive on hard times… do-it-yourself stuff and debt consolidation and pawn shops and vulture lawyers… those who do best are adapting and expanding and re-inventing themselves!

You run a service business  but have more to offer than just your accounting skills. I’m not talking about your tuba-playing. Surely you have taught others something about your specialization at some point. Why not add that ability to the range of services you offer?  

VOILA!  Now you are also a consultant and trainer. Package these add-on services, price them, and include them on your business cards and letterheads. Hey, nothing ventured… 

You’re a painter or designer?  Add less-expensive, one-of-a-kind postcards and greeting cards to your lineup.

You sell furniture  and discover the new senior housing complex down the road provides a small alcove area next to every front door; nothing you carry fits there, but you (or someone you’re connected with) have (has) some carpentry skills. Measure twice; cut once. Skinny/tall/customized corner cabinets! Sell affordably and POOF! A new revenue stream and new prospective customer base.

Every problem is an opportunity.  

A lousy economy is an opportunity

to innovate and spin new business

directions out of your old knitting.

“A stitch in time…”     

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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