“Go West, young man!

Then South, then East,

then North, then West

again, then . . .”

You may think you’re a creature of habit and that you have your daily routines to follow, but as truth will have it, you consciously or unconsciously reinvent little pieces of yourself every day by choosing the clothes you wear and the foods you eat, the ideas you think about, and even the people you choose to smile or snarl at.

So, you’re already on the path of reconstruction. How about re-visiting the parts of you and your business that are most exposed to others, and decide if those parts are really holding their own, or if maybe it’s time to consider reinventing yourself . . . or your storefront, or your website, or your business name, or your logo, or branding identity, or lineup of services you offer, or the ways you communicate your business message to the the outside world?

I learned that most successful entrepreneurs, and particularly those with service-oriented businesses — whether run from a garage, a kitchen, a fancy office, a warehouse, or the back of a truck — are those who work at staying flexible and at communicating that flexibility to their investors, employees, and customers with the frequency of a Twitter Tweet.

In applying that thinking over the years, I changed the name and identity of my business many times to best fit changing operational logistics and market dynamics. When I left the NY ad agency life for NJ college professorship and was still restlessly seeking a more entrepreneurial existence, I went into business to compete with the college that I believed was too invested in status quo curricula, and I started UNcollege.

As more businesses sent participants to the nontraditional instructional programs UNcollege provided, I switched gears to become Management Training Center. When the recession wiped out business training budgets, I segmented the training programs and took them onto the air waves with my own daily radio show, BusinessWorks On The Air, then into editing Business Talk magazine, as I folded Management Training Center into BusinessWorks.

The media exposure drove more business startups and revitalization consulting and marketing projects my way and BusinessWorks  evolved to specialize in healthcare practice development work. I wrote and published two well-received “doctor” books and opened HealthCareWorks.

As my writing turned more literary, and then more marketing focused, I closed down BusinessWorks and HealthCareWorks and opened my four year-old business, TheWriterWorks.com, LLC. which hosts this blog site and www.BusinessWorks.US and within a week will add a third site while participating as partner in two other upcoming online ventures. I now write business websites, ads, news releases, articles, and books . . . and specialize in reviving struggling organizations with customized ENTREPRENEURIAL LEADERSHIP consulting services that get results!

None of this is job-hopping, or suggesting of insecurity or fly-by-night businesses. It is the layering on of ongoing knowledge pursuits with fresh, new-look entities — each providing better, more targeted services than the last.

Has it been easy? No. Worth it? Yes. Exciting? Yes. Challenging? Yes. Has it cost client relationships? No; it’s called: “Stay in touch!” Has it cost reputation? No; I’m still me and I still deliver overkill value. Has it opened more doors? Yes.

Reinventing what you do is a reasonable risk because it’s not changing what you do; it’s changing the ways you communicate what you do to better apply your services to take advantage of market need opportunities. Scared? Stay as you are. Bored? Reinvent yourself by challenging the business you currently run to be as spirited as the business you once started.

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US  931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

So, ARE you the Boss, or not?

(Part I of II)  

     Other than bad news from your accountant, there’s very little you can hear that’s worse than, “It’s not my job!”  Nor does it make any difference which of those four words is most emphasized (and of course the absolute worst place any boss can hear these words is when an employee says them to a customer!).

The example, though, serves to make a point:

You’re “The Boss” . . . What’s YOUR job?

     If you want to start making more money by tomorrow morning, you’re going to have to change a few things. If you’re going to change a few things, you have to be very clear and keenly aware of what exists right now — beforeyou charge in with your wheelbarrowful of shovels, dynamite sticks, battering ram, hammer and nails, concrete, and power tools.

     Probably the most important first step (which, by the way, takes at least 3-6 seconds!) is to accept the fact that the sooner you can get yourself to STOP thinking of yourself as a “business owner” or “operator” or “manager,” the quicker you’ll get to that money-making part. Why? Because . . .

Because  the minute you think of yourself as some title, like “the owner,” there are certain defined behaviors and privileges that go along with that title, and each of those is limiting.

They unconsciously require you to behave in certain ways.

They actually block you from exercising your true entrepreneurial pursuits, your innovative ideas, and your ability to move your business forward in high gear.

     To put aside your self-imposed limitations, you must first put aside your thoughts of being “the owner/operator/manager,” and start to think of yourself as more of the free spirit that started your business, or that started working with it from that very first day. Remember that? You were all cranked-up and uninhibited in your thinking?

     Forget about what happened since then and focus on where you are right this minute. And as for “down the road,” if you know where you want to end up, don’t waste time checking the finish line; stay with your heartbeat and pulse and breathing! 

     This “New You” also needs to throw off any and all “Get Rich Quick” schemes. Reality note:There is no such thing! Forget about all those slick email and Twitter and Facebook and YouTube come-ons and one-time-only deals that promise transformation of your life and business into an overnight kingdom for just four easy payments of $29.95.

     Instead, you might give some thought to what you could do for your your business yourSELF for the $119.80 [oh, right, “plus S&H” . . . or now it’s “P&H” . . . “P” for Processing. Apparently “Shipping” is now free and you pay only for “Processing.”  Hmmm, “Processing” PLUS “Handling”? Aren’t employees PAID to do “S” and “H” and “P”?  Is somebody double-dipping?]

     Okay, here it is. This is what you’ve been waiting for . . . 

          To get ready to make more money starting tomorrow morning: 

1) Start focusing on what you can do immediately to shed your mental cloak of limitations that revolve around BEING (insert your title), and instead take 3 bold, positive steps toward framing your business in some exciting new, more realistic, more authentic, more transparent directions.

2) Order more deposit slips. 

 Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

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

Make it a GREAT Day for someone!

“Dreams which have

not been interpreted 

are like letters from

the Self which have

not been opened”

— TALMUD

Here’s the thing, the most successful business people in the world all share some common traits and all share one common status of being self-actualized. This means that they have each learned some in-depth things about themselves and have used that information to figure out what makes them tick.

Bill Gates, Thomas Edison, Steven Jobs, Mary Kay, Henry Ford, Dale Carnegie (Add your own), have all been students of themselves in the processes of designing and developing their businesses.

Do you know what makes you tick?

One way to get a better fix on the answer to this question is to write notes to yourself the minute you wake up in the morning about any dreams or parts of dreams you can remember . . . a “dream journal” if you will. By forcing yourself to take up this practice and jot something down every morning, a few things will happen:

1. Odds are good that after a few days, you will begin to remember more and be able to record more. In this case, more is better.
2. Repetitive patterns or scenes or thoughts or images may begin to emerge that will help you interpret more and learn more about your SELF which can boost your business big-time.
3. The more you remember and write down, the more likely you will be to feel less stressed, and to be more productive both on and off the job.

Is this information to share with your white-shirt-and-tie corporate brother-in-law? Probably not. I wouldn’t in fact recommend sharing the idea with anyone until you start to see some results for yourself. Why does the idea seem too off-the-wall bizarre? Because it’s not in any business textbook and most of those who benefit by the practice don’t discuss it for fear of . . . well, you understand.

A primitive Malaysian hunting and gathering tribe called the Senoi (Bing or Google them if you’re interested in more detail) have a generations old practice of waking each morning and talking about their dreams from the night before with others in their tribe. They reportedly go from one tribal member to another until they feel satisfied with the interpretation of their dreams.

Wackos, right? Wrong. The tribe is free of stress, free of disease and free of mental illness.

Imagine if you could be enjoying that luxury right now. Is it mumbo-jumbo or dark magic? Not likely. Since almost all research ends up demonstrating that disease of all kinds has a psychosomatic base that inevitably evolves from stress, it shouldn’t be surprising news.

When a group of people (regardless of how primitive) devotes part of every day focusing on, exploring, and identifying stress sources, that group is going to experience less stress. Less stress means less disease and less mental illness.

Keeping a daily “dream journal” is one way to help yourself (which means you will also be helping your business) beginning immediately. And it’s FREE! (Oh, right, a blank book and a pen!)

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Start with

INTROSPECTION.

Then, add the

decorations. . .

     There comes a time in every economic curve (and especially like now, where the curve has become a plummet) when we must stop the centrifuge that has our backs slammed up against the spinning wall. Nice imagery, huh? Ever feel like that, or am I just imagining things? 

     We need to step off, collect ourselves, take a deep breath, regain a sense of balance, and re-examine what’s going on with our business. You know, take a look at those activities (or lack of) that we haven’t paid attention to lately because we’ve spun ourselves into a state of dizziness (no I’m not talking about that dizzy state on the West Coast!)

     Management gurus seeking creative nirvana in their leadership styles have been urging us all for years to “think outside the box.” I disagree. I’ve watched an endless stream of business ventures think themselves out of the box and into financial quicksand.

     Contrary to their brilliant branding message, even Taco Bell needs to think “inside the bun” in order to ensure consistent quality of food ingredients, as well as service. Thinking INSIDE THE BOX is like circling the wagons, shoring up the foundation, strengthening existing connections and relationships, reinforcing the structural integrity of existing products and services, and promoting value-added innovation all at the same time.  

     It rivals the explosive levels of productivity that surface the day before leaving for vacation (ah, yes, vacations; I remember those).

     A truly great and successful, well-known man whose memoir I’m presently writing, always says (rather authoritatively): “You can’t do two things at once!” 

     I’m thinking about staring so hard out the windshield that you spill the coffee — or worse, reaching to balance the coffee and crashing into the car in front of you. Well, when it comes to business ownership and management, the expression is equally true. Thinking OUTSIDE the box takes you too far away from what you need to be focused on when cashflow is dwindling.

     I’ve often noted here that the best way to do this is with http://bit.ly/Bb1Tw which I guarantee will help you stay focused on what’s important. The bottom line is that you REALLY need to not leave home without it and the “it” is the part about first making sure your home is safely protected, that some one’s around to keep an eye on it for you, that mail and messages will get forwarded or saved.

     Thinking OUTSIDE the box requires that INSIDE-the-box operations are safe and sound and moving forward without you having to risk divided attention. It’s simple when you start with INTROSPECTION. 

Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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At this moment

in history… 

when small business

can least afford it…

[4-STEP  SOLUTION AT END] 

     GOVERNMENT is muscling entrepreneurs into incipient bankruptcy with this healthcare plan that — contrary to what the spin has been — does absolutely NOT pass along tax credit to all. In fact, 88% (maybe more) of America’s 29,000,000+ small businesses will get ZERO healthcare plan-related tax credit! So, do the math: “Maybe 12%” will get some tax credit.

     29 MILLION? Yes, that includes the 23 million self-employed. They are indeed small businesses by any rational person’s definition, and certainly by any textbook definition, and most assuredly by any measure of reality.

     The healthcare plan forces downward pressure on wages, when we’re at a point in time, facing the prospects of total economic demise, that the exact opposite is what should be happening. Downward pressure on wages inhibits business growth and strangleholds small businesses’ abilities to create jobs.

     SMALL BUSINESS will end up bearing the burden of increased insurance premium costs. Insurance companies will now pass on to small businesses the increased costs of government payments they must make. Insurance companies are not stupid. They will simply turn around and stick it to small business . . . camouflaged perhaps, but it will not not happen!

     Heaven knows we need to create jobs. And heaven also knows job creation will never come from corporate giants or from incompetent, close-minded market government agencies like the US Postal Service. 

     Yet, small business is the last and really only hope for job creation. Job creation is the only meaningful and realistic economic stimulus solution in America’s economy. Yet we are being trapped in a vicious circle of reckless spending partisan-politics that has no clue about the value of free market price competition and tax incentives with teeth!

     Instead, our no-business-experience leadership looks forlornly to the corporate and government executives who run the US Small Business Administration for the kinds of help they are simply not capable of providing.

     Most small business owners and entrepreneurs know how to solve problems quickly and know how to stimulate cash-flow and open new revenue streams, how to build a competitive environment and make it be productive. Give them a chance!

THE SOLUTION…

>>> We need regional roll-up-the-sleeves task forces of experienced, successful small business owners and entrepreneurs in place and functioning via virtual meeting site conferences within two weeks.

>>> We need individuals with proven track-records who are willing to step up to the plate and work together for the common good without burden of paperwork overload or complex multi-level reporting systems.

>>> We need task teams to be given full authority AND responsibility to take immediate steps to develop and implement business turn-around programs geared to creating jobs.

>>> We need government acceptance of the fact that the time has come to make the most of America’s great wealth of small business resources by respecting and working with them, instead of pounding them into the ground.   

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! Blog via RSS feed or $1/mo Kindle. GRANDPARENT Gift? http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

This is not the time

to back off your 

marketing plan!

     Three times in recent weeks I have firsthand experienced business owners running scared from the economic crunch, straight into the debris left by salesquakes that erupted because each decided they were too afraid to carry out their marketing plans.

     If you don’t think that’s remarkable, try this on for size: all three had already paid 90-100% of the associated expenses to activate the marketing programs that they had planned. Something is clearly wrong here. Fear of failure? Fear of success? Fear of competition? Fear of more government regulation? Fear of being out of step with the marketplace? Fear of the words and images they were about to use?

You live in the wilderness, and routinely hunt for food for your family. The deer you’ve been tracking all day is now ten yards ahead frozen in place, do you load your gun and then turn around, unload it, and walk away?

Do you say, “Oh, I guess I wasn’t really interested in hunting anyway,” or “Our food supply can hold out ’til next week,” or “Gee, I can’t just shoot it because it’s not running,” or “What if I miss?” or “How would I ever get the thing back to the truck?” or “I should probably wait because one more after this and I could end up exceeding the limit,” or . . . 

     When I asked each of the three what made them pull up short of triggering programs they had already paid for, the answers I heard back were just as ridiculous as the hunter example. You would not believe the credibility each attempted to put behind the excuses they offered.

     It would have been like the hunter deciding to sit and take the whole gun apart to make sure all the pieces were clean and properly connected before resuming the pursuit, by which time the deer would obviously be six counties away.

     This is not the time to back off your marketing plan.

     You’ve come this far. You’ve put together the best program you can, and engaged the best help you can afford. Don’t start to question yourself and your efforts and Monday morning quarterback your decisions! Your instincts are what got you here in the first place. Trust them.

     What’s the worst that can happen if the plan fails? What’s the worst that can happen if you do no marketing? What’s the worst that can happen if you don’t find another deer before your food supply runs out?

     Roll up your sleeves and get in the game! This is what entrepreneuring is all about. Stop choosing to fret and start choosing to take action. You’ll get to your destination. Enjoy the journey.  

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! Blog via RSS feed or $1/mo Kindle. GRANDPARENT Gift? http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

Not all salespeople

are leaders,

but all leaders

are salespeople!

     Psychologists tell us it’s a pretty safe bet that a sale is made or broken in the first 10 seconds. The first make-or-break second of the first 10 seconds is the impression made by your smile… ü

     So maybe it’s a good time to run to the mirror and evaluate. Is yours: Genuine? Fake? Masking upset? Token? Mocking? Ambivalent? A slight grin? A mouthful of teeth and gums? A lecherous drool?

     You needn’t be a toothpaste commercial, shooting forth little light beams every time you open your mouth anymore than your handshakes need to break bones. Let authenticity be your guide. 

     Do you ever find yourself thinking that you can put one over on someone because you’re on the telephone? After all, the other person can’t see your face so you can scowl all you want, chew gum, eat pretzels, rattle ice cubes, clack your teeth, pick your nose, or tap on your keyboard . . . and “who knew?”

     Ah, but surely you can hear me if I do those things to youon the phone; why would you imagine others can’t pick up dumb and disgusting noises or subconscious vocal (er, ah, uh, um, duh, uh-huh, ahem, awk!) signals from you?

     Can we hear each other smiling?Of course. We can also hear a ton of other emotions when the importance of the call warrants careful attention, and probably half a ton even when the call’s a casual one. How many times have you spoken with a total stranger and known immediately that the person has a cold, or is upset, or preoccupied, or in a hurry? How about when it’s someone you know well?

     We listen with “selective perception.” Like the artist walking into a crowded party focused on where the host hung her artwork, or the alcoholic who nods and smiles his way along the shortest straight line route to the bar, or the recently downsized administrator searching out prospective employer-types to impress. The same selective perception. We perceive what we want to perceive and we pick out or select the words and tone of voice and attitude we want to hear.

     In fact, depending on who’s on the other end, we may “work the room” so to speak in an effort to prompt those desired words and tone and attitude. A little light humor can do the job. Sometimes a sob or two. Can you tell when someone is trying these ploys? Manipulation is not authenticity. 

     Successful leaders use selective perception too, but they don’t limit input when it serves a purpose; in fact, they encourage it. There’s a song from the ’70s by the group, “YES,” that I’ve always liked with the line, “Don’t surround yourself with your self!”

     Unprofessional salespeople who lack vision tend to do this. Being too caught up with or full of themselves loses sales. Weak, dillusional leaders often do it to mask their insecurities until discovery unravels the truth of their missions.

     If you are a good leader, you are selling constantly because it’s your job to motivate others to want to achieve what you need them to do using strategic approaches that they contribute to. If you’re a good salesperson, you recognize the importance of providing effective leadership for your customers and the communities you serve.

     And –VOILA!– it all starts with a real, smile-like-you-mean-it smile… ü    

Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

For richer or poorer,

in sickness and

in health, it’s

YOUR business…NOT

the government’s!

     There may never have been a better time than now, for small business owners, operators and managers to rise up and defend the businesses they’re married to, to take hold of the entrepreneurial leadership that America’s government hasn’t even an inkling about how to make work.

     We’re promised leadership transparency and get instead closed doors.

     We’re assured of job creation incentives and get instead “much ado about nothing.” Mountains of utterly useless government paperwork clog our channels of communication and threaten our existences as free market competitive entities.

   Here’s the line in the sand:

The government wants to tax and spend and provide all the necessary infrastructure to gain total and complete control of our businesses and industries, our families and our personal lives. [This is not exaggerated. Look carefully at what’s been happening every day.]

American business owners want an end to taxation without representation. Small business owners want an end to spending money that doesn’t exist, no matter how great the cause. Business owners do not want the government running businesses; they want government to provide infrastructure tools for use by small businesses to create jobs and economic turnaround opportunities. They want to keep their inalienable rights to freedom and independence.

     America’s federal government has run amuck. It is using today’s lame excuse for a healthcare bill as a Trojan Horse to–once positioned inside the walls of democracy–unleash a flood of controls designed to pursue their mission to usher in socialism.

      Socialism does not work, and will not work. It has never worked.

     And until what I am firmly convinced is our nation’s corrupt union leadership (especially teacher and automaker unions) and until naive, ideological arts and tree-hugger communities are willing to put aside their new-found, Obama-led arrogance long enough to face reality, we as a nation are in deep trouble.

     So why address all this political mess in a blog for small business owners and entrepreneurial leaders?

     Because it is WE who are on the line here. It is WE who hold the opportunity to reverse the reckless spending and reckless mind-games being foisted upon us. It is WE who need to rise up and restore balance and strength to our crumbling economy. 

     No, these are not just words. These are actions that each of us needs to take and pledge to work for. Our government, as it has come to exist in this past year, no longer represents “WE the people.” 

     If any of us with small businesses spent money we didn’t have as mindlessly as the federal government has been doing and continues to do, we would be out of business . . . exactly where America  is headed.

     We are on a runaway train, being driven by a totally-inexperienced group of incompetent (seemingly “possessed” say some) politicians who are intent on taking us all directly over the socialism cliff into Marxism waiting eagerly below. And, God forbid that should ever take place.

     The only way to ensure the survival of democracy bolstered by its capitalistic roots that established the US as the world’s one-time strongest nation, and be able to be in the position to best help others, is to provide small businesses with real (not token) tools to lead us forward once again.

     This can only happen when each small business owner takes an active role this November in voting out those who think it’s more important to “taxdollar-bailout” corporate giants than to put meaningful job creation tax incentives in small business.

     Realize here that we have representatives who are more concerned with their empty, small-business-killing healthcare plan than with reducing unemployment rates enough to allow people to pay for the insurance coverage they’ll need to have, to avoid getting fined with amounts they have no ability to pay, because they’re unemployed. Oh, is that not logical or something? 

     We need Congressional Representatives and Senators who are not afraid to stand shoulder to shoulder with small business, who will foster the spirit of knowledgeable, experienced, and open leadership we so sorely lack.  

     We need small business leadership with the vision to restore the sovereignty and credibility of America that generations before us worked so diligently and hard to preserve.       

Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

If Einstein

had been Alaskan,

would he have been 

wearing your shoes?

     In finally getting around today to Sarah Palin’s best-selling book, Going Rogue, I was reminded early on that US Secretary of State William H. Seward bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million (or two cents an acre) . . . well over half a million square miles (589,000 in fact) of mostly rugged (and then considered useless) wilderness.
     The unpopular purchase was publicly mocked and anointed as “Seward’s Folly.” But Seward, it turns out, had uncommon vision and great foresight.
     Decades later (and now, of course, the 49th State), Palin points out that Alaska ultimately produced colossal amounts of “gold and oil and rich minerals, along with the world’s most abundant fisheries.” She notes that Seward was “posthumously vindicated, as purveyors of unpopular common sense often are.”
     Let’s flip this historical tidbit into your own backyard, and explore what we learn.
     You run your own business. You have some terrific common sense ideas that you’re convinced can boost your business (industry, market) sky-high. But your family and your (formal or informal) advisory board considers you borderline crazy? They all agree that your newest business idea is too radical and far beyond having a realistic chance for success?
     You respect and trust their judgment and recognize that they have your best interests at heart, but — in the end, no matter the circumstances– your gut will prevail. Why? When none of them share your instincts, why? Because none of them are in your shoes. In fact, if they really were in your shoes, they’d be running your business instead of you.
     You got where you are because you have an entrepreneurial instinct, because you took reasonable risks, because you weren’t afraid to take up an unpopular cause that you believed in, because when others got too rigid or too flighty with their leadership, you always clung to using common sense.

Q. So how do you fly forward in the face of headwinds that seem determined to take you down?

A.The same way that you’ve done it before: forcefully AND gracefully (yes, both can work together). You need to move upward and onward in the directions you believe are right, but not at the cost of the input, insights, and guidance from those you honor and rely on.

     Claiming that if humans could use 100% of their brainpower, they would be able to separate molecules and walk through walls, neuro-scientists have further speculated that even Einstein never used more than 10% of his brain. (Whew! Imagine what percentage of brainpower each of us not-quite-Einstein-types use?). The man himself was often quoted as having said all we ever have is limited knowledge. 
     Okay, so limited common sense knowledge triggered by gut decisions. Sounds like a plan. Actually, it sounds like every successful entrepreneur who ever lived, from Henry Ford to Bill Gates. Measuring the Alaskan past and considering your present state of “craziness,” one might very well conclude what most of us know but most of us forget:

Forward motion as a human being and as a business leader

is always about having the courage of your convictions.

Just look around once to confirm that, then look inside your SELF to ignite what you believe in. 

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“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! 

REALITY IN YOUR FACE:

When it’s time to let go . . .

     As I’ve been reminded again twice this week, facing death is never easy, and I think I can make that statement with some conviction because I’ve probably experienced all kinds and proximities of death in one way or another. Some (like family members, heroes and pets) can be devastating; some take a lesser toll, but none escape the memory banks.

     Now this may seem like an inappropriate transition into business, but — if you really think about it — it’s  not. Our businesses are living, breathing entities that are devoid of emotion but that maintain all the outward expressions of existence. Our businesses actually experience all the highs and lows that we’ve come to associate as the exclusive domain of human life.

     If you’ve ever had to close down or bankrupt a business, or experience major business losses due to fire, flood, earthquake, burglary, or embezzlement, you surely can relate to this . . .

     Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, the world’s foremost expert on “death and dying,” identified the five emotional stages we all experience:

1)Denial and Isolation  2)Anger  3)Bargaining  4)Depression  5)Acceptance 

     She said all of us must experience each of these five stages to one degree or another in the order they are shown with EVERY loss experience. Some of course get stuck and never make it to #5. As business owners, managers, and entrepreneurs, we experience bits and pieces of these five stages with daily losses.

     Kübler-Ross noted losses are not limited to human death, and can  include the loss of a limb or faculty, or ability … loss of a valuable possession (home, car, a business), loss of companionship (including divorce and separation), loss of freedom (including jail), loss of a job, loss of a client, loss of a prospect or opportunity, loss of self-esteem, loss of authority, etc.

     To a lesser degree, we even experience these stages when we lose a dollar, a photograph, a letter, an address, a contest, and so on. So what’s the point? 

Healthy successful people do everything humanly possible to channel all their energies and mental focus on reaching the Stage of ACCEPTANCE as quickly as possible, and on maintaining themselves at that level as permanently as possible.”

     Everything else is non-productive. Everything else leaves us feeling deflated, defeated, and negative. Some stay in these places their entire lives. Some are institutionalized. Some don’t survive.

     Stages 1-4 are pure torment. We must go through them, but the goal needs to be to move through them as rapidly as our minds and bodies allow us to. Getting through the maze may take friends and rescuers. We have all performed that function for someone else, but perhaps have forgotten?  

     Keep always in the front of your mind that no matter how hopeless it may feel to be stuck somewhere in denial and isolation, or in anger, or in a bargaining position, or a state of depression, it IS a matter of choice!

     The minute we choose to accept loss, and continue to choose that, the quicker we can get on with a happy and productive existence and make the most of the short time we each have here on Earth … make the most of the relationships and purposes we’ve been blessed with.

     We need not choose to lock ourselves into suffering and misery. Life and business life are way too short to have wasted time and energy with anything besides being happy and healthy and in active pursuit of our dreams.

Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US 

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone!