Not “Wealth” — It’s 

OPPORTUNITY that needs

to be redistributed!

It seems most everyone in the business world agrees that Mr. Obama needs to take an economy lesson from the world’s leading retailer.

Wal-Mart today announced it will be cutting consumer costs across the boards to increase revenues and stimulate some genuine deficit relief. 

Congratulations again, Wal-Mart. It’s no wonder you’re on top. You think and act like a business even when many in government would wish for you to roll over and give up.

Oh, but Mr. Obama, why would you who has dragged America feet first into a socialistic state, and almost necessarily into a companion state of incipient bankruptcy along the way, have any regard for a business solution?

After all, you’ve been doing everything humanly possible to make small business enterprises  (America’s ONLY hope for REAL job creation and economic turnaround) go away.

That is correct, isn’t it? (In fact, if you could just once admit this truth, we could move things forward quicker and much more productively — just get the politics out of it!) 

You offer nice sound bites and token funding through do-nothing federal agencies that duplicate efforts for extra (tax-dollar) pay! — just get the politics out of it!   

Nonetheless, Wal-Mart has got it right. Mr. Obama continues to get it wrong.

We have a man whom many believe falsified his way into the White House (If he didn’t, why has he spent a reported $2 million to cover up his true birth information? Regardless of what’s true, does that make any sense?).

It’s simply further proof of the pudding that questions of propriety have been back-seated to those of political pursuit at all costs. And in the process, business thinking has been relegated to “the kid’s table.”

But that’s what happens when ignorance runs incompetence. 

We have in Mr. Obama, a man who hasn’t a single clue about how business works, and who –adding fuel to the fire– appears utterly incapable of even understanding the need for having a business sense of urgency.

For the sake of all businesspeople everywhere in the U.S. and on the rest of the planet, and for all Americans, let us hope we have learned enough about talking the talk (instead of walking it) that we exercise some damage control and nip his political pursuits in the bud.

The notion that redistributing the wealth is a worthy goal is a mark of total naivety. Redistributing opportunities to those who create the wealth of our nation is where the federal government focus needs to be.

Only by supporting America’s small business growth can America support itself because coming from a position of strength is the only meaningful way to be able to afford to help others to grow.

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 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!

TXTMSGS

NEVER GET IT RIGHT!

The time it takes to clarify, undo, correct, revise, elaborate on, understand, and check on business information communicated via texting–in order to “get it right”– is greater by far than the amount of time it takes to exchange the correct information in person or by phone.

If you’ve been using straight-on texting to build your business, start over before it’s too late!

Why? Text messages simply fail 100% to communicate anything of value besides numbers, and even those are rarely accurate. And don’t try convincing anyone that LOL or ;<) or I <3 U convey enough emotion.

How words are expressed may be unimportant to teens and pre-teens, but are of major consequence in business, and especially sales (and aren’t ALL small businesspeople salespeople?):

Can you tell from a text message whether the person writing it is paying attention? You can always tell if some one’s paying attention in person. You usually can on SKYPE. And, you can on the phone more often than not. Emails? Probably 50/50.

Text messaging may have a place in the world of communications technology for snappy factual exchanges, and maintaining ongoing contact whenever that’s important.

But texting shouldn’t be relied on for more than that, and –other than some life or death emergency applications– should never be used as the basis for any emotionally-based decision, such as a purchase or personal commitment.

Because?

Because text messages by their very nature are incapable of giving you the whole story, or of communicating the focus or attitude or response/reaction of either the sender or the receiver

— and these indicators are at least as important if not more important than the actual words that are sent or received.

By contrast at the very least with emails, for instance, intent and emphasis is possible with various font treatments. Think of texting as a kind of interactive slide-rule. “Just the facts, Ma’am,” said the impatient detective. 

Though I shudder to have to mention the long-lost word, even a FAX (Yowza! Who ever heard of that?) is more communicative than a text message because it allows the sender to include diagrams and use spatial relations to make a point.

Here’s the bottom line:

Good, clear, accurate communications requires time and effort.

In business, to achieve via texting what’s possible by phone or in person would surely start an epidemic of broken thumbs, and probably a new TDD (Texting Deficit Disorder) neurosis. 

“And your insurance provider IS . . .?”

Clear communicating requires two-way transmissions that include feedback and paraphrasing (e.g., “If I understand this point that you’re making correctly, you are saying . . . “ kinds of check-up statements to make sure you got it right).

Clear communicating facilitates question and answer exchanges — sometimes on an interruptive basis to help facilitate understanding of the whole picture, along the way!

So go ahead and use texting. Over-use it at your own peril. Recognize that it fails miserably to give messages their intended meaning, and that it’s no substitute for facial expressions and/or the human voice.

But 4 some of U, there R’nt any better <~~>s 2 go that could B as GR8, so go 4 it . . . but visit or call if you want to give or get a meaningful response!  

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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!

Take a step back.

Take a deep breath. 

 Take stock of 

where you are.

If your business is your life, you are obviously not a corporate type or some government flunky. Only true entrepreneurs make their businesses their lives. And only true entrepreneurs need a crowbar to separate the two. This is good and bad. Good because your business will succeed. Bad because–in the process–you the person may not. 

You need a “HOW GOES IT?” meeting

with yourself, now, today, tonight, at sunrise!

You need to not make excuses for delaying it. At the rate government continues to ravage America’s 30 million small businesses, you cannot afford a delay past this coming weekend. I know, it’s a family deal coming; it’s your only chance to see Lady Gaga; it’s income taxes; it’s . . . STOP! Take some deep breaths.

This is not a half-baked suggestion to do some fancy inventory of your customers, branding program or finances, though it’s hard to do too much of that. This is an informal step-back-out-of-the-woods assessment point in time which healthy successful entrepreneurs make a habit of practicing every couple of months (at least quarterly).

• Start with a quiet place where you will not be interrupted for two hours by cell phones, radio or TV reception, machinery, other people or barking dogs. (Sunrises are great!) Walk on the beach, through the woods or in a quiet park . . . or just sit parked in your car. Bring a pen and notepad (no keyboards or keypads).

• Write down one single sentence that best describes where your business is right now. Follow that with another sentence that best describes where you are right now — physically, mentally, emotionally. Be honest. It’s just for your brain. No one else need ever see this piece of paper.

• Next , write one single sentence that best describes where you believe it’s possible to take your business within the next six months. Follow that sentence with one that best describes where you believe it’s possible to take your self (physically, mentally, emotionally) within the next six months.

• Spend the next hour studying these four sentences and diagramming how you think you can get from one to the other, and how you see them coming together or depending on one another. Then write down the three action steps you’re willing to take right now to get started moving from where you are to where you’re headed. Prioritize them.

_________________________        

Two hours out of your life that will positively improve your life (and your business) and you just saved all that business consultant and psychotherapy money.

You can be your own best shrink!

(Unless you choose to put off having a “HOW GOES IT” session with yourself —  in which case, the couple a hundred bucks an hour fees will probably be a worthy investment.)

_________________________ 

P.S. When you get good at this process, start introducing it in your “big picture” work with employees and key customers. Everybody loves having the opportunity to participate in doing positive attitude-focused diagnostic workups and developing treatment plans aimed at improving work options and customer service performance.  

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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!

STOP BEING

A FIREFIGHTER!

When you undermine those

who work with you, YOU

become less effective. 

Entrepreneurs, small business and professional practice owners and managers are notorious for undermining the people they work with. They’ll ask a partner, associate or employee to handle a certain task or make contact with someone in their absence, then –an hour or two, or day or two later– will turn around and do it themselves.

Sound familiar?

______________________

I’m reminded of one of those yea/boo stories [I need a bucket to bail out the boat (boo!); ah, here’s a bucket I can use (yea!); oops, my bucket has a hole in it (boo!); the hole is in the top (yea!) . . .].

____________________

When you ask someone to do something and then whisk the job away because it wasn’t done the way you would do it or because it wasn’t done as quickly as you wanted — or worse, maybe it was already done, but instead of checking to find out, an assumption is made that it wasn’t, and the task ends up being needlessly duplicated. 

Besides that such actions are looked upon unfavorably by both internal customers (employees, investors, referrers, suppliers, lenders, advisors) and external customers (purchasers and consumers) and are considered highly unprofessional in business circles . . . the behaviors persist.

By pulling the rug out from under someone you’ve charged with a responsibility, the likelihood is great that you will also have managed to ignite fuses of discontent, frustration and neurosis.

Not to mention the not-worth-it losses you’ll suffer in credibility, respect, and reputation. 

I know personally of two employee shooting rampages attributed to having “assigned responsibilities” prematurely withdrawn, or arbitrarily reassigned. 

When you as a leader empower someone (or set someone up to become empowered), be extremely clear what needs to be done, and how (assuming there’s no room for interpretation or alternate approaches), and by when. Then go away. Don’t disenfranchise an individual that you’ve just enfranchised.

“Well,” you say, “this sounds good, but nobody else does stuff as effectively as me. If I don’t ‘ride herd’ on those I give assignments to, they’ll never get done.”

Are you really saying that you don’t trust those you’ve partnered with or hired? Is what you mean that you think you’re better than anybody else? Is what you mean that you like running around like a maniac, putting out fires?

Are you really saying that under all these pretenses, you simply don’t trust your SELF or your own judgment?

This may sound embarrassingly obvious,

 but worth the risk of mentioning anyway:

When the kinds of carelessness

that start fires to begin with,

are eliminated to start with,

you won’t need to start with

being a firefighter. 

Maybe it’s time to consider corporate life, or a job with the Post Office? Most towns have openings for roadway cone placement. Nothing to undermine. Think of all the stress you’ll spare yourself.

Entrepreneurial leadership means–among other things– that you need to trust those you’ve trusted to work with, to get the jobs done that you ask them to do, and go about your business of growing your business instead of wasting your time and energy, and everyone else’s. 

Think twice before you delegate. Make sure you are delegating to the best person to get the job done under the circumstances. Make sure you explain carefully what’s needed, and by when, and how much room there is to determine methods and techniques for getting the job done. Set “How Goes It?” follow-up plans. Trust. Walk away.

When you undermine others,

                                                you’re really undermining yourself.

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  931.854.0474   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 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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“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

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