Welcome to the world’s first SMALL BIZ Alphabet Series of blog posts!

Welcome to the world’s first

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES of blog posts — 

“D”…DELEGATION

 Does it make a big difference if I tell you 

to do something . . . or ask you to do it?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Telling you what to do might work out fine in the military, or aboard a plane or boat, or operating heavy equipment . . . or if you’re a prisoner, a horse, or a Cocker Spaniel.

But, in business, unless you –the owner or manager– need to prompt cooperation with others to get a job done, the results you’ll trigger by giving directives cannot compare with the response you’ll get from making a request, which can be astonishing. And when was the last time you got great results from giving orders?

US President and General Dwight David Eisenhower taught his senior officers how to exercise leadership by pushing a tangle of string across a tabletop vs. taking one end and pulling it, which of course ended with the string in a straight line moving in a single direction, instead of a jumble going nowhere.

Yes, sincerity, genuineness, eye contact, backpats, your posture, tone of voice, and and smiles often make the difference. So does the reputation you carry for having integrity and authenticity — perhaps the two most important qualities an entrepreneur can have on the road to success.

And, interestingly, integrity and authenticity are ever too late to cultivate.

Well, okay, you know all that, but how far must you go with the “please” and “thank you” routine? Truth? You’ll never go far enough, and if it’s actually become “routine,” go back to your cave.

Here are a few treasured learnings I can share:

• Even when we think we know, little do we ever really know about what life circumstances will bring, and where we’ll end up with our businesses in the years ahead.

• I have seen discounted, dismissed, dissed and insulted employees turn up years later being the bosses of those who once humiliated and looked down on them.

• I have seen long-term top customers walk away from businesses in an instant after learning about relatives (a son, in one case) who worked for the provider business, unbeknownst to the boss, who were routinely berated, chastised, scolded, yelled at and wrongly blamed for screw-ups.

• I have personally watched businesses run by owners who were rude, constantly preoccupied, always angry, and routinely barking out orders . . . go down and under.

Do you –like the carpenter and heart surgeon– make a practice of measuring twice and cutting once? Do you think twice before speaking once?

Remember

you can delegate authority,

but you cannot delegate

responsibility.

Responsibility is yours alone.

When you ask peopleto get things done, asking nicely is not manipulation, it’s respect. Use words that inspire and that demonstrate your passion for your business: opportunity, challenge, reward, investment, courage, pride, workmanship, spirit, spunk, gumption (add your own) . . . the right words make your passion contagious.

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Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0911

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

 A marriage,

  a partnership  

…your business

on the rocks?

No need to contend for an Academy Award. Don’t get me wrong. acting isn’t always a bad thing if it serves to entertain or educate. Besides, theatre is in my family’s blood going all the way back to early Armenian and early Irish performers. (More on this some other time :<.)

The point is that acting to maintain or

enhance an image rarely serves the purpose.

Keeping up appearances only works for limited periods of time with limited audiences. With crumbling marriages, acting may not be a bad thing with young sensitive children who need to know –no matter the cause– that it’s not their fault. The same can be said for employees and customers when a business partnership goes south.

When a business stands firm in the face of a tsunami, the tsunami will prevail. It’s best to not pretend all’s well to those you do business with when it’s not . . . unless you’re certain a short-term BandAid will not prevent forward motion once the air clears, and you’re mentally prepared for any worst case scenario.

If you’ve been pretending things that are terrible are really great, be alert for reality to take its toll. A little snack for thought: Consider taking periodic mental inventory of where things are and where they’re headed. Step back. Take a break. Go for a walk, a drive, a ride, a swim, a vacation. Breathe. Get your brain unwound.

Accept that the stress these acting roles

produce is simply not worth all the pretenses.

Failing to own up to perceived threats of reality often puts businesses and their owners under. You are, you know, after all is said and done, a human being. And your body may, as some say, be a temple, but it is also (regardless of fitness level) a fragile temple. 

In a business tsunami, you are as susceptible to psychological trauma as you are to physical and emotional assault.

You may not be able to prevent accidents simply by staying out of harms way, anymore than you can avoid business upsets by just dressing things up and acting the part of conquering hero.

Even when you might think you are on track to a best actor or best supporting actress Oscar, when you begin to see that all the affectations, costumes, makeup, props, and mastering of character study you can muster are just not going to bail you out, face the reality head on. Be honest and direct.

Remember that –while you might think the situation at hand is the most humiliating and crushing life experience possible– others who are not as good as you have survived it, and most have become stronger for it. So, don’t shut it down. Put it out on the table.

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  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

How to run a business

while your way of life

is under attack . . .

It’s no secret. Unless you’ve been away visiting friends and family on Jupiter, there’s no way you could not be aware of the increasingly rapid emergence of America’s Socialistic policies.

There is no way you could not be aware of the union-spawned turmoil government has predictably forced upon a scared, angry, disenfranchised, and economically fragile general public.

Doubtful? Just look around you. Go sit in a crowded place and just watch. See the faces filled with looks of worry, dispair, anguish, frustration, wrinkled brows, downturned mouths, sad eyes, slumped shoulders. Listen to the moans and groans and nervous laughter. 

Our way of life is under attack.

Our sense of patriotism and morals, the faith we’ve always had in ourselves and the small businesses and professional practices we own and manage is being undermined daily by our own government and so-called leaders.

We have a White House and Senate tilted so heavily to the left that there is no more balance in American lives. There is no longer room for God? Parental respect? Small business as a way of life?

So how do we get past present union and government attempts to disrupt and destroy small business?

It’s shape-up or ship-out time!

Assess where you are. Be honest with yourself as to how you evaluate and measure your buiness progress and losses. Decide how to make the best use of what you have. (You’ve already been doing this or you wouldn’t be alive right now, so keep at it, and accelerate your efforts.)

THINK IN DIFFERENT BOXES!

Continue to NOT trust the government we’ve been saddled with. It hasn’t proven itself worthy of being trusted.

In other words, even though WE all know that small business creation of new jobs is the only answer to turning the economy — don’t create new jobs! Why? Why create new jobs simply to turn around and be penalized for it?

That government/union olive branch you reach to accept will be followed by a slashing machete.

Promises of immediate help are two-faced. They are laced with quiet admissions that long-term financial punishment is inevitable.

Sure, go ahead. Create new jobs now and get lower taxes and some make-believe incentives for doing that now. Then what? Feel that stab wound in your back? Next year or the year after (the identical dynamics of Obamacare), the great new jobs you created will come back in spades into your wallet with make-up-the-difference tax increases (plus!) and even more intrusive regulations.

What else is there to do? Remember November 6, 2012.  

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  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

When your business is

born of faith, you march 

to a different drum . . .

That most small business owners maintain any kind of long-term allegiance to the place their businesses were born is doubtful. Yet, as entrepreneurs, they are the most likely group to appreciate and respect the origins and uniquenesses of a business that is born of faith.

Both kinds of small business enterprise owners —those who believe their business calling comes from God, and those who don’t– experience similar dynamics, challenges, problems, and opportunities. The differences are essentially differences in attitude, motivation, and the treatment of internal and external resources.

Small businesses all suffer growing pains. And being on the cusp of economic catastrophe while getting bludgeoned by over-taxation without representation (considering the SBA is a joke) and by over-regulation from a naive, misguided, rampaging  White House that appears intentionally and spitefully clueless, doesn’t help.   

Not many corporate giant, union, or government career types would understand the dynamics, challenges, problems, and opportunities faced daily by small business –any kind of small business– let alone the charitable, servant leadership nature of a business that is faith-based.

Entrepreneurs of every ilk recognize that their own and others’ existences depend on their own initiatives. Unlike corporate and government counterparts, when you own and/or manage a small business, and you’re too hungover to get out of bed in the morning, there’s no option for tossing it off by calling in to take a “sick day”

When you skip work or drag in hours late because you’re feeling depressed or had an upsetting incident at home, or simply didn’t want to face up to a scheduled meeting with a disgruntled partner or financial supporter, or an irate customer, what happens? The business suffers. Do it too often and the business folds.

But when your business is firmly grounded in commitments to serving God by serving all others who come into contact with your enterprise, you have a different perspective on what’s important.

Secular, or non-spiritually-based businesses exist to make money. They are primarily devoted to satisfying their principals and their investors with profits. Faith-based businesses exist to make money to distribute more to their employees, their communities, and to become stronger resources for charitable giving.

Many secular businesses will put income-source customers first and actually disregard their employees, vendors, and “outside” consultants and sales reps. Financial gain and competitive edge become the driving forces. Faith-based businesses typically seek to embrace everyone equally, seeking to distribute trust, respect, and opportunities.

Most secular businesses consider community support efforts non-essential line items to abandon when economic uncertainty drives budgetary belt-tightening. Faith-based businesses facing the same financial stresses may simply switch gears to make their community contributions ones of time and effort, or expertise, or goods and services.

Having had the privledge of working extensively in both secular and faith-based business arenas, I frequently hear questions about what the differences and similarities are. This post is intended to address a few of my observations. They may not all be correct, and certainly they are not all-inclusive.

Can you add some comments

from your experiences? 

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

I learned the hard way. 

Burning bridges might 

 work for “isolationists,”

but . . .

But even if you’re the owner of the most microscopically small home business being run out of an empty closet, you cannot afford to be caught with a “smoking match.”

When you cut off communications with people or organizations –whether intentionally or inadvertently makes no difference–  you cut off future options and opportunities that you may never imagine being possible right now. And when you least expect it, it will surely come back to bite you in the butt. 

It should go without saying that this bridge-burning dynamic applies equally to all of us as individuals as well.

How did I learn the hard way?

At many levels, I had to fight my way through childhood poverty and abuse, through high school insensitivities, college insecurities, impersonal graduate school, and the disillusioning beginning-a-career years. I beat my way through the bushes and put on a happy face, but I used my struggling existence as an excuse for aloofness.

Former (far wealthier) classmates disbursed to all corners of the globe with pocketsful of parent’s money? What did I care? I’d never see them again anyway. They served me no immediate survival purpose. Screw ’em. I was preoccupied with affording clothes, a car, and often, a next meal. How could I relate to summers in Europe?

I chose to feel bitter. For awhile I held grudges. But those feelings never lasted because they left no room for me to earn my keep and work my way up the corporate ladders that I saw as my only escape route. It was something like a forced retreat from upset feelings because upsets didn’t pay bills. I had no room left for anger.

The end result was the same.

Burned bridges.

I never intended to sever relations with those in my various graduating classes, and in steppingstone jobs.

It just happened.

Yet the consequences of often having no place to turn when a turn was necessary were no less difficult to bear than had I actually set the connecting spans on fire.

Ill feelings can obviously (now, in retrospect) trigger a conscious or unconscious desire to disconnect from the circumstances or people responsible for igniting various upsets, but what I’ve learned the hard way (after losing many close contacts over time) is that effort invested in long-term relationships can often produce great returns.  

It’s water over the proverbial dam at this point, and my life has been graced so many times over with strong business and personal relationships (that I finally did learn how to hold on to and nurture and enjoy), that I can only be grateful for them and for what they have made possible. Yet, there’s still this twinge of regret.

Perhaps you or someone you know will be prompted to think twice before cutting ties or burning bridges after hearing this (true) short story from someone (me) who almost learned too late the deep values of long-term relationships — in life and in work. When did you last give someone the benefit of doubt? Forgiveness works!

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Unless you’re a surgeon

or bombsquad defuser,

 nothing gets done

  by standing still.

Yesterday we talked about constantly moving targets. We touched on the challenges presented by rapidly changing rules, attitudes, circumstances, and information access.

To impact consumer, employee, and supplier behaviors positively, entrepreneurs and small business owners must flex, adjust, adapt, and go with the flow.

We must also hustle.

When problems surface, pounce on them. I’ve actually seen unsavvy (and ultimately unscuccessful business owners and managers walk away, pass the buck, blame others, close up and go home, and –in one instance– put a “Gone To Lunch” sign on the counter at 11:55am, and literally chase out eight customers who’d been waiting in line

. . . oblivious, obviously, to the common knowledge that every unhappy customer tells a minimum of ten other people who tell ten other people. So, in this case that makes 800 bad-mouth comments. Can your business survive that? (“Quick like a bunny” was my father’s motto; it always earned him big tips.)

Having a constant sense of urgency communicates leadership, compassion, integrity, authenticity, and professionalism. Others will assign those values to everything you are associated with — your products, services, ideas, and all of the people involved with your business. Pretty good return for zero dollar investment.

Don’t be so afraid of making mistakes. Yes, “haste makes waste,” and “failing to plan is planning to fail.” But you can’t run a business cornerstoned by trite expressions. When you take reasonable risks, you are not betting the farm, or running off to the nearest lottery window, racetrack, or casino with your gard-earned dollars.

Unless the task at hand requires some Herculian effort (e.g., securing a king-size mattress onto the roof of a Washington Bridge-bound VW) or is intricately detailed (e.g., drawing blood, folding a parachute), be on the alert about when you can hustle your muscle and please your customer or employee or vendor with a prompt response.

All of this takes an action attitude and a determination to “Git R Done,” but, hey that’s simply a matter of sleeping and exercising enough, eating right, and making the choice. This starts to sound like some kind of training camp? It is. If you’re going to make this all work, you have to choose to keep yourself in good shape, and stay with it! 

Try walking faster. Oh, and keeping a journal of response times for various tasks and services will give you a sense of where you are, where you need to be, and give you the information you need to improve the sense of urgency you deliver. What every day? No, but maybe a day or two a week to start, then a monthly check-up. 

Remember the Chinese proverb: “Talk Does Not Cook Rice.”   

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   Hal@Businessworks.US

  Open Minds Open Doors 

 Thanks for your visit and may God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Well, HOPE never accomplished anything, but we DID get change . . .

Budget-Squeezed

Consumers,

Unemployment Line

Stampedes,

Fleeing lenders and

Investors,

Slithering and Sinking

Suppliers

The days are done of having stationary targets and goals to focus on. We are a civilization on the move. Some of the action, we asked for. Some, we didn’t. Most threatening are those that have been foisted upon us by a naive, incompetent American government that has zero experience with, or appreciation for, all things business.

Even before I give you the build-up, here’s the bottom line:

You cannot start a fire with a magnifying glass if you have to keep moving the magnifying glass because the object you’re trying to ignite keeps moving!

It’s a wonderful thing when your targets stand still for you and you have all the luxury of time to aim carefully before pulling any triggers. But that’s fantasy. Reality is that in today’s still sinking economy, everything is moving and changing — customers, employees, funding sources, referrers, vendors, and the competition are all in motion.

If you really want to put a fire under your ideas, your customers, your employees, et al, you’d be best advised to ditch the magnifying glass and figure out the best way to turn sparks to flames. You need to first explore the nature of the tasks and people involved, and assess your goal structure.

If your goals aren’t specific, realistic, flexible, AND due-dated, you’re headed into fantasyland and running on empty.

You are dealing in (with apologies to Mr. Obama) hopes and dreams: meaningless time-wasting, money-wasting, energy-wasting illusions that savvy entrepreneurs avoid like the plague.

Dreams, ambitions, and intentions are great, but only when they are followed promptly by action. Taking action is the mark of a true leader, and all successful entrepreneurs. And some action is always better than noaction. Why? Because –again– trimes have changed and the new old motto is:

“If it ain’t broke, fix it anyway!”   

Be careful to not misread the implications here that you should suddenly fly by the seat of your pants (which could undoubtedly make for an interesting journey, but highly questionable landing). Yes, do charge at your business targets, but remember that –even when they least appear to be– they are moving and changing.

Your ability to adapt effectively to changing, moving circumstances will determine your ability to succeed. How does one prepare for vigorous activity? By stretching of course. What kinds of stretches do you need to build into your daily routine to enhance your flexibility, elasticity, ability to adjust and respond?

Writers read. Language teachers do crossword puzzles. Designers go to the movies. Doctors and dentists invent gadgets. Actors “people watch” in crowds. Musicians hum. Drivers walk. Chefs try different restaurants. Shrinks join therapy groups. Figure out what works for you.   

The world’s greatest athletes –regardless of the sport– are those who practice and practice, and practice again, hitting a moving and/or changing target. The world’s greatest entrepreneurs do the same thing. Remember high school physics class and Newton’s First Law?. . .

“A body in motion tends to stay in motion!” 

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

 Thanks for your visit and may God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

If you own a small business,

then small business

politics owns you.

You can run but you cannot hide. 

Even if you are a one-man-band or one-woman-band with no internal politics, you have no choice but to deal with external politics.

~~~~~~~~~~

You’re an owner, operator, partner, or manager of an American small business or professional practice. You may own all or a piece of what you do, but the government (and politics) owns all of you!

~~~~~~~~~~

Regardless of all other influences in your life, when you own or run a business of any type or size, you still must face the fact that the massive amount of government controls and regulations alone can ruin more than your favorite breakfast, a good night’s sleep, and even a kaleidoscopic sunset. It can ruin your health and your family.

Since the government for the most part dictates what you can and cannot do; what you must pay for goods, services, and taxes, and when; who you can and cannot do business with and hire or fire; how you must treat and insure those you hire and how you must treat and pay off those you fire

. . . since it dictates what kinds of tools and equipment and forms and suppliers and shippers and transportation you must use . . . even how you state your business to others . . . and since government is born of politics, while somehow managing to also be its inseparable twin . . . There IS a breaking point.

It’s a never-healing small business stress fracture!

And now, clearly on track toward a Marxist dictatorship by way of the nonstop and sorely misguided Obama Socialism freight train, America’s small business community has reached that breaking point.

First off, there are 30 million small businesses in the U.S. Don’t believe the White House; they are patently and intentionally wrong; home-based businesses are conveniently ignored. The government doesn’t consider home-based businesses as worthy enough enterprises to allow them to be included under useless SBA jurisdiction.

You run an online business out of your closet, a jewelry-making business out of your garage, a cookie business out of your kitchen, or a grass-cutting business from your truck . . . you don’t count! The government only wants your tax dollars. Beyond that, you don’t exist! So, back to the beginning: there are 30 million of us!

If you are anything like the vast majority of small business owners and operators, home-based or otherwise, you clearly have a goal to make a difference with your life and your enterprise . . . for your self, your family, your community and hopefully –by the ways that you do what you do– for our nation as well.

That means taking some minutes out of your hectic schedule. It means putting down your tools, equipment, keyboards, dishtowel and whatever else you make a living with, for just long enough to take that step you dread into the sleazy world of politics. It’s time to do your part — show and inspire others to leadership.

It means taking just long enough to visit or write a couple of letters or emails to politicians about why you think small business matters. Take just enough time to support those who support your ideas about why small business matters. Why? Because small business does matter. And because it matters that we all step up.

Imagine the impact: 

THIRTY MILLION

visits and letters and emails calling attention to the economic recovery role of small business and why government must invest in small business –not with more wasted cash handouts– with tax incentives for innovation and tax incentives for job creation.

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  Hal@Businessworks.US  

  Open Minds Open Doors 

 Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone!

What Makes You Think

You Can Wing It?

 Farmers, carpenters, doctors, lawyers, firefighters, pilots, seamstresses, stylists, realtors, even Cub Scouts do it.

So what makes you think that you can wing it? Now I’m not talking any hundred-page document with 37 pull-out spreadsheets and an annotated bibliography featuring a gazillion itemized resources. Who cares? I’m talking about an Entrepreneurial Action Plan.

Yes a plan of any kind needs a goal.

And that goal has to be realistic and specific and flexible and due-dated. If it’s not all four of those criteria, it’s not a goal, it’s a wish. Wishing may work in Disneyland, but business success comes from taking action. Taking action without a goal-based action plan is like trying to control a rudderless ship in a storm.

Your Entrepreneurial Action Plan

Like any good news release, your Action Plan must answer the questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? And be realistic, specific, flexible and due-dated. It’s always a worthy endeavor to include a Mission Statement and a Vision Statement at the beginning of your plan to set the stage.

A quick market assessment, a marketing plan, a management approach and/or team lineup, an operational outline and a financial plan and projections — that all answer the questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? (and that are realistic, specific, flexible, and due-dated) will do the trick.    

                                                                                                          

Is this over-simplified?

No. It’s actually very simple. An Entrepreneurial Action Plan is simple and quick to execute. It is not a formal business plan. Many of the same ingredients are in both, but business plans are primarily done for the purpose of raising investor or lender money. Action Plans are to get things going, and build momentum; they are not fancy.

An Entrepreneurial Action Plan can be scribbled on the back of a large envelope.

It is definitely not for the feint-hearted crossed-t-dotted-i perfectionists or analysis-paralysis corporate types. The best results come from those who chunk up their plans and adjust them frequently. This doesn’t take thousands of hours or a rocket science degree. Oh, and what a great amnd illuminating collection the saved scribbles make.

BUT your Action Plan does need to capture.

It needs to capture the five “W” questions and one “H” question above, and it does need to target goals that are realistic, specific, flexible, and due-dated. Otherwise, you are captaining a rudderless ship in a storm, and are bound to have schools of lawyers circling you, closing in for the kill.

Yes, put it in your pocket, not a spiral-bound or 3-ring binder.

It’s a working document for the day, week, or month. I do daily scribbled Action Plans for each blog post. I do weekly versions for my writing/consulting/marketing business. In the end, it’s all about why you are an entrepreneur in the first place . . . to make your idea work by exercising the freedom to continually adjust it.

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Hal@Businessworks.US

 Open Minds Open Doors

 Thanks for visiting.     God bless you.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone