Is Your Business Jogging In Place?

Accountants and lawyers  (UGH! What a combination!) will quickly tell you that your company is a legal entity that needs to be thought of as a separate and distinct individual.

So, okay,  why should a company be any different than a person when it comes to cultivating and maintaining good health? Like, what could possibly be better for your business than to feed it nutritious meals?

  And while you’re at it,  make sure it gets a good night’s sleep as often as possible… but minus the pills; just turn out the lights. You might also see to it that it does the prescribed number and reps of bench presses, and that it jogs a couple of miles and swims a few laps every day.

  Some good head-clearing  cross-country runs beat jogging in place, by the way, and the swimming? Hey, it’s the best total exercise there is, with no pressure on backs, knees… or computers, file cabinets, copy machines and elevators.

Of course you also know,  while we’re on this subject of general health—-the ubiquitous variety, not some empty-suit czar called “General” —-that certain bad habits can do in even the most fiercely determined health and fitness efforts. You do know this. Stuff like smoking and alcohol or drug dependency will knock the greatest Olympian out of competition.

Sooooo,  why would you allow your business to develop destructive dependencies? Just because you hear other business owners moan and groan about the econ0my doesn’t mean you should be tossing in the towel anymore than that you should take up heavy drinking and drugs because your business is a couple of blocks away from a rehab center.

     Your business needs exercise!

Take it for a walk,  play Frisbee with it (no computer games; those babies are already over-burdened), go bowling. Air the place out. Periodic housekeeping is a good thing. Overhauling policies and procedures is an invigorating experience. Changing hours, suppliers, responsibilities, terms, and hats are all events that represent a clearing of the decks.

When new business  isn’t in your face, you need to be getting ready for it. Your company needs a little tree -shaking to let the nuts fall out. Sure, tree-shaking is good exercise. Anything you can do to work up a little sweat…

# # #  

Hal@Businessworks.US or comment below.

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals!

Reality Check!

      Just in case  you’re star-struck with the idea of starting your own business venture, be aware that there’s a little more to it than flipping the black and red “Yes, We’re Open” and “Sorry, We’re Closed” sign twice a day.

There’s . . . 

• money (at least twenty times more than you can even imagine needing!) 
• industry experience, training and know-how
• knowledge of the market and the competition
• customers (you’re going to need a few to start)
• suppliers (you’re going to need a few to start)
• location (which is often critical, depending on the nature of the business)
• utilities
• a formal written business plan
• investor and/or loan payback arrangements
• basic office and business supplies
• inventory of products and/or services
• credibility (industry/community associations?)
• advertising/marketing preparation
• advertising/marketing implementation
• an accountant
• a lawyer
• an advisory board
• employees
• a bank and bank account
• maybe a post office box
• maybe charge card or PayPal arrangements
• maybe a charge card
• furniture and equipment

…this could go on for pages!

     And don’t tie-up  your brain with this next thought, but you surely need to be conscious of the fact that 9 out of 11 new businesses fail in the first 3 years, and that it takes 5 years on average just to break even financially.

     Be aware that  most businesses fail because of poor management. Period. It’s common to hear that a new business didn’t make it because it was under-capitalized, but if you think about that for 2.5 seconds and can be honest about it, under-capitalization is:  poor management!

     You can be  a free-wheeling entrepreneurial spirit all you want, but reality dictates that you have to do some planning and have a ton more money than you think you need just to get up and running. This is a “haste-makes-waste” point in time where shortcuts don’t work.

     Of course there are always  Steve Jobs and Bill Gates success stories about starting in a garage and working “on a shoestring,” and I wish for you to be that kind of successful, but reality is that these two superstars are each one in trillions.   

     If all the above  thoughts have fueled your fire instead of discouraged you into retreating to the life of a bottom of the barrel employee, you might actually have what it takes to make it work. Go for it! (Oh, and if you need to call me for help, do it please before running out of money! Thank you.)

# # #  

Input aways welcome: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in    subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  

# # #

This blog free via list-protected email: click RSS Feed above…$1.99/mo on  AMAZON Kindle. Creative? Add your own 7 words to the 314-day 7-Word Story (under RSS) We’re making it up as we go!  GET Hal Alpiar short story in Sept. release book from Nightengale Press: THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING Amazon, B&N, OR order special (signed by Hal) pre-publication $22.45 total check only (includes s&h), payable & mail to: TheWriterWorks.com, LLC @PO Box 1236, Millsboro, DE 19966. Include continental US ship-to address. 9/13 is Grandparent’s Day!

Not just tech triumphs, the

PO is a self-fulfilling sinking

You think it’s not coming?  You must be a fantasizer, or you work for the post office! Direct mail, thanks to the US Post Office (AKA US Postal Service) as we know it, is dying a slow, painful suffocating death.

How can that be?  Because direct mail–like commercials being the mainstay of broadcast media–is the mainstay of the US Post Office (AKA US Postal Service), and the US Post Office is on the way to gasping its last few breaths.

I noted here  a few days ago that the US Postal Service is reported to have processed 203 billion pieces of mail during 2008. (That’s 7.700 pieces per second!) Now does that sound like an entity that’s going out of business?

Well, consider that during the same time period,  CTIA reported over one TRILLION text messages were sent. And are you ready for this one? Radicali Group reports –for 2008– that 210 BILLION EMAILS were sent PER DAY. Do the math!

Now take a hard look  at US Postal Service management. It’s a sea of incompetency, which should actually not be any surprise considering the totality of federal government incompetency when it comes to anything involving business.

And no need  to look any further than the banks, automakers, lack of job creation due to 100% lack of small business savvy and support [except for  tokenism from the equally incompetent SBA (Small Business Administration) run, of course, by big business]… or the ridiculous “forced healthcare” proposals on the table. Maybe we should be forced to buy stamps!

Here.  Try a quick review of these two gem blog posts from this past March: the first was mine, criticizing the US Postal Service and the second was from a postmaster who politely tried to defend and then subscribed to the bulk of criticism. (I reproduced his reply in full.)

They speak for themselves  http://halalpiar.com/2009/03/23-lifelines-tossed-to-the-post-office/ and http://halalpiar.com/2009/03/hawaii-postmaster-responds-to-postal-service-critique/

It’s beginning to look  like it’s going to take more suffering before government gets a wake-up call that the only answer to our economic woes is going to come from small business job creation and the privatization of government agencies.

Unless agencies  like US Postal Services can be run like real businesses by being market competitive and operated for profit, they will cease to exist. The Post Office is on its way out. And like a sinking ship’s treasures, it’s taking the direct mail industry along with it.

# # #  

Input aways welcome:

Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US or comment below.

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! 

Obama, Hallmark, Rush,

airlines, surgeons, tourism!

     What do Obama, Hallmark Cards, all of the airlines, Rush Limbaugh, plastic surgeons and tourism councils all have in common? Whoa! Now that’s a question and a half, right? I mean what could such a collection of diverse interests possibly have in common?

     They paint pictures with words and sell them from a stage that’s literally dripping with seduction. And of course there are others. I just picked these because they’re such unlikely bed partners. Okay, here we go. Follow along. Yes, if sales are important to you, there IS a valuable lesson here.

     It’s not too big of a stretch to see how the traditional approach to schmaltz-layering, that Hallmark has so wisely (and effectively) invested of itself over the years, has rung up spectacular success. Here’s a business that makes bigger profits than bagels.

     The company buys up a zillion tons of paper, much of it scrap, folds it into four zillion tons of little envelopes and message cards, prints a few mushy words on the cards and sells the card and envelope for $5 each or thereabouts, times four zillion! 

     What’s the value enhancement? The messages they put in these cards appeal to our psyches. They seduce our egos. What did Obama do to get elected? The same thing. What’s he trying to do now with his go-for-broke healthcare fantasies? The same thing. 

     What do the airlines sell? The seat and space you are actually renting and the transporting expertise to get you where you’re going? Are you kidding? They sell you the destination! They sell you smiling hand-holding couples skipping through the surf, cliff divers in Mexico, pubs in Ireland, koala bears in New Zealand.

     Plastic surgeons selling elective procedures present us with(carefully air-brushed) photos of the killer bathing suit-clad model that we all could no doubt be. We know we could be because the word description with the picture tells us that just a few little nips and tucks here and there can give us the same results. No mention of course of the anesthesia and procedural risks, the recovery sacrifices, the expenses. 

     Rush Limbaugh sells us concepts; he’s a genius at seducing our brain frustration centers by painting verbal pictures of how good it can be if we simply think and act more conservatively, more fiscally responsible and more respectfully of the vigilence that gives us our freedoms and the values that give us our American heritage. (Now THERE’S a unique thought!)

     Island resorts: “Ooooh, let’s get together and feel alright…” Regardless of the location or message, you can be sure they’ll be nothing about the expenses, the lousy transportation, the pricey rooms and meals, the bad water, the pickpockets, the badgering street vendors, or any of the other lovely amenities you only learn about too late or sometime after your psyche has been sold. 

Selling the psyche requires you to paint pictures with words because the right word…is worth a thousand pictures!

# # #  

Input aways welcome: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in    subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  

# # # 

Get this blog FREE by list-protected email: click “Posts RSS Feed” (center column)…or pay $1.99/month on AMAZON Kindle. FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the 300-day “7-Word Story” (center column). A new Hal Alpiar short story is coming in September in a new book from Nightengale Press: THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING…soon at Barnes & Noble @ $19.95 ($24.95 CAD), OR order special (signed by Hal) pre-publication price @ $18.95 plus $3.50 s&h [$22.45 total check only), payable to: TheWriterWorks.com. LLC. and mail to POBox 1236, Millsboro, DE 19966. Include ship-to (U.S. only) address.  REMEMBER SEPTEMBER 13th IS GRANDPARENT’S DAY! 

“You’ve got to stand

for something, or

you’ll fall for anything”

— Aaron Tippin, Country Western Performer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hja0XND8Ms 

     The business world seems to have a mission to have a Mission Statement for everything these days…Sales Mission Statements, Customer Service Mission Statements, Corporate Mission Statements, Financial Mission Statements…

     And many of these, I believe, are merely token lip service public relations-type tongue-twisters with no teeth that hang framed on walls and plastered onto every ad and document and website in bordered shadow boxes, flaunted as if they were flags of honor and integrity!

     First of all, any company that has to be boasting about a Mission Statement (no matter how goody-goody it might sound) is simply indulging itself in mental masturbation.

     If your business is as great as the pursuit of its Mission, the people you want to know it, will know it without you having to strut it across every stage. Your behavior and the behavior of your business is what constitutes your “brand” and people will know you by your brand, your conduct.

     That having been said, there is a need in every organization (even sole proprietorships) for an internal “Leadership Mission Statement” that owners, operators, and managers can rally around and bring into daily practice. “You need to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.”

     It needs to address HOW your business leadership will function and communicate with others inside AND outside your organization. Why? Because –no matter what business you’re in, no matter what quality or value of goods and services you offer, no matter how industrious and honorable you may be– 80% of your business is communication!

     If you don’t have a Leadership Mission that focuses attention on the processes and ways you will strive daily to communicate clearly (including, importantly, active listening practices) with associates, staff, customers, prospects, vendors, community, industry and the rest of the world, you are setting your company up for failure.

     I’m not talking about a PR or media or customer service policy  manual, or some empty suit theory. I’m referring to a genuine statement of leadership conduct that calls on human communication best practices at every level… in letters, emails, on the phone, in-person, in presentations, and in all marketing related materials, publishings and broadcasts all of the time. “You need to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.”

What’s the guideline to use? Trust and Authenticity.

With special thanks for inspiring tonight’s blog post to a strategic alliance partner of mine, Andrew Jackson, who sent me the link to the music video source of the headline quote above. 

# # #  

Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

FREE BLOG SUBSCRIPTION? Click on ”Posts RSS Feed” (Center Column), or now on your AMAZON Kindle for just $1.99 a month after a free trial.

FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the end of the 289 POSTS:  Click under “7-Word Story” (center column)

WATCH FOR ONE OF HAL’S SHORT STORIES COMING this September in the new book from Nightengale Press, THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING…on sale here! 

The gun goes off!

     No, I’m not suggesting some form of warfare is needed for starting a business (though, at times it can feel like being on the edge of a military engagement). I’m talking about a starter’s gun, the kind that’s used to start events, that shoots blanks? Whew! Glad we got that straight.

     Starting a new business, or a new venture spinning out of an existing business–in case it’s been a while and you’ve forgotten–is very much like the beginning of a crew race. Okay, you live in the desert or the mountains and haven’t the foggiest idea about a crew race.

     Maybe you saw one once on TV? Crew races take place in rivers, lagoons, bays, and lakes. Skinny, lightweight 62-foot-long sculls (boats) with 8 rowers (each with a two-handed oar: 4 on the port side and 4 on the starboard side). Yes, there are also 4 and 2 and 1-rower sculls.

     Each oarsman/oarswoman has his or her feet strapped in, and each slides forward and backward on little butt-snuggling seats that actually have each rower precariously perched in such a manner as to practically hang out over the boat edges just inches above the water.

     There’s a “coxswain” (usually a featherweight athlete with  heavyweight vocal cords) in the bow (front) who steers the boat with guide wires and pounds the rhythm into blocks on the sides of the boat. This little person does a lot of yelling through a megaphone. Oh, thatcrew race! Sooo?

     Competing boats get positioned on the starting line, standing still, dead in the water. Oars and rowers ready. Let me try that headline again: The gun goes off! Every rower slams their oars as fast and furiously as they can in and out of the water in order to get some starting momentum and get the boats moving from their dead weight standstill positions.

     Once some forward motion is established (and assuming no capsizings or tangled oars with other crew teams), the coxswain starts in with a quick paced rhythm, calling “in” and “out” for rowers to coordinate oar placements in and out of the water.

     This builds the pace of movement in a smoother, more team-coordinated manner. The coxswain eventually calls out “stroke” as the pace lengthens out into longer harder quicker pulls.

     The coxswain is all the while banging on the boat because rowers cannot always hear the shouted ins and outs because of wind, but they can feel the vibrations of the pounding and respond to that.

     Rowers slide forward and back in time with lifting their oars up out of the water, twisting the handles so the oar blade skims back across the top of the water, then plunging the blade back in for the exhausting pull through the water, then repeating the motion again and again.

     Rowers must concentrate on staying in tandem (from a head-on view, an observer should see but one single rower when the team is in perfect sync). They must also focus on working to not “catch a crab” (getting an oar stuck out of rhythm with the other seven oars, going into or coming out of the water, and creating a splashy puddle).

“Catching a crab” can be serious enough to “catch” an oar blade and take the oar that’s fastened into the oarlock beyond the point of recovery. This will likely turn the entire boat over, which –aside from losing the race and likely damage to the expensive fragile boat– is not a fun thing in 50-degree water with a hooded sweatsuit!  

Are you beginning to see why this athletic ordeal reminds me of starting a business? Are you paddling fast and furiously to get some forward motion? Are you trying to row and steer your fragile, expensive boat at the same time? Are you missing hearing the steps you have to take but feeling the vibrations? Have you “caught a crab”? Are you lengthening out? Capsized?

Hey, there’s always another race!

  # # #  

Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

FREE BLOG SUBSCRIPTION? Click on ”Posts RSS Feed” (Center Column), or now on your AMAZON Kindle for just $1.99 a month after a free trial.

FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the end of the 288 POSTS:  Click under “7-Word Story” (center column)

WATCH FOR ONE OF HAL’S SHORT STORIES COMING this September in the new book from Nightengale Press, THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING…ON SALE HERE! 

Ready to roll your gasping,

bleeding business into the ER?

     At a  9AM meeting you asked for a copy of an old 12-page report by the end of the day. That didn’t seem unreasonable, did it?  

     Probability is that your headache only came on when you realized that not only was your request ignored, but that the employee who smilingly agreed to provide the copy actually took a two-hour lunch and then left for home early.

     Of course you needed some icing on the headache cake, so your eager-to-please employee obliged you while you were on a conference call by dropping a “Sorry, the copy machine’s been down all day” note on your desk for you on the way out!

     How many times have you asked someone who works for you to get something done quickly and then discovered that the task ended up in the “SLOW” pile? Okay, every one’s not “Charlie Hustle,” but assuming that you’re making your “RUSH” requests in a reasonable and courteous manner, maybe the person on the receiving end simply doesn’t share your sense of urgency?

     Do you find more evidence of this in your observations of employee dealings with customers and clients? Perhaps it’s time to recruit your people into developing or up-dating your business mission statement and –in the process– to make sure that some key reference is made to “responsiveness.”

     Why not just repremand and push everyone to move quicker? Because you need your people to buy into the way of thinking you want the business to have if you’re interested in having them behave more responsibly than hired temporaries. After all, doesn’t the government aspire to be in a position of simply dictating change?

     Ah, but the government knows nothing about running a business. In fact, the government seems unfortunately destined to experience that rude awakening soon… the reality that change cannot be dictated anywhere with any degree of success by anyone, except perhaps at gunpoint in a dictatorial regime, is not far from discovery.

     People accept change more quickly and more wholeheartedly when they have a hand in designing the ingredients and/or the parameters of what behavior is expected of them. Giving them at least the opportunity to suggest recommendations for inclusion in the revitalized guidelines for conducting day-to-day affairs makes them part-owners.

     People who are business owners and those who have risen to the occasion and accepted at least the conduct–if not the roles of part-owners–are the same people who accept an ownership mindset. These are the people who you can count on to be responsible, to have a sense of urgency about them in all that they do. And businesses with a sense of urgency succeed.    

# # #  

Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

FREE BLOG SUBSCRIPTION? Click on ”Posts RSS Feed” (Center Column), or now on your AMAZON Kindle for just $1.99 a month after a free trial.

FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the end of the 282 POSTS:  Click under “7-Word Story” (center column)

“Don’t I recognize you

from my last job?”

(OR, “An employee today could be a customer tomorrow!”)

     There are not many pages that small business owners and managers like ourselves can take from universities or big business owners and managers, but here’s a new one that’s worth paying attention to…we like to think (being small and flexible and aggressive and innovation-driven) that we have a lock on the whole notion of networking.

     I mean when’s the last time you saw campus or corporate executives at Chamber of Commerce mixers or Better Business Bureau networking events? Ah, but they (academic hot-shots and corporate type muckity-mucks) are mainstays in the job search networking arenas. Yes, you might say, but that’s not real networking; that’s just exploitation of another job search tool.

     Who’s to say? After all: whatever you network for is what you network for. Hmm? If, in other words, you attend a networking event cranked up to meet and greet prospective employers, then job search is indeed your purpose. If you bring six pockets full of business cards with the idea of getting everyone you meet to visit your blog, or follow you on Twitter, then your purpose is to build an audience.

     The point is that we all network everyday with associates, employees, vendors, customers, referrers, prospects, even friends and family. Sure, so what’s this big page from big business (and academia, which hasn’t even a clue about business reality) all about?

     Many major corporations, which themselves have stooped to conquer unsavvy academic methodologies are now seeing great sales and business growth opportunities from networking with former employees! Aha! So, it’s not all of academia here that’s lighting fires? Correct.

     The ignition points are lodged in the sacred college and university halls of alumni associations, alumni directors, and development officers. They started it. Corporations are following it. Small business is next and starting to happen! The corporate social networking we’ve all heard about is now beginning to add a new dimension: employee alumni programs.

     A 2009 article by Mary Hall identified a few representative companies that have already entrenched themselves in commitments to build successful alumni programs: Microsoft, McKinsey, KPMG, Booze Allen, BearingPoint, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Bain & Co., Dow, Coca-Cola, Accenture, Agilent.  

     Hall’s article poses the question: Why would a company want to focus its attention on a group of people who are no longer employees? Because, she says, “whatever path former employees choose, they are likely to be expanding their personal networks and getting to know new people. Why wouldn’t a company want to do the same? An employee today could be a customer tomorrow or have in their network a future hire.”

When ALL is said and done, isn’t it true that ALL of business

is ALL about relationships?

Alumni associations are here for small and mid-sized business. Many already recruit employees from them. Many hold annual reunions that produce payloads of workable i9deas because they come from those who understand how the business works to start with.

# # #

FREE blog subscription: Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

You are your business.

Attitude and behavior

are your brand.

     Small business owners rarely devote enough attention to branding and the importance of branding. It is much more than a logo, name, label, or catchy slogan. Brands reflect the integrity and reputation of both the company and the business owner.

 Your brand and branding messages need to include

 and be wrapped around

ALL aspects of your business.

     Your brand and branding messages need to make a statement about the environment and methods you and your company are engaged with. This “statement” needs to be an integral focal point of ALL of your communications… verbal, visual, written, in-person, and implied!

     Your business exists because of your customer bases: INternal customers (like associates, employees, referrers, strategic alliances and present suppliers) as well as EXternal customers (like past and present buyers, prospective buyers and employees, and prospective suppliers). What it is that you put out to each and all of them every day is what adds up to your brand and branding.

     This translates into how you and your business deal with all of these diverse “customer audiences” on a day-by-day basis, how you treat them, whether you pay your bills on time, if you follow-through with customer service after the sale is made, if your business is a good citizen in the communities that support it, whether your products and services provide true quality benefits and dollar value.

     Keep in mind that one unhappy customer (internal OR external) will tell ten other people about her or his lack of satisfaction, and each of them will tell ten more. In case you weren’t doing the math, that’s a hundred people walking around bad-mouthing a business that may naively dismiss one upset as one upset. But–aaaaaah, the reverse is also true: delight one person and gain a hundred positive referrals!

     Reality is that maintaining positive and productive brand images and branding messages means you need to practice unending vigilence in tending to all levels of (internal AND external) customer service. It is especially important to be and stay tuned in to employee and industry-related issues, and to pounce on problems and deal with them honestly.  

     A great memorable name and themeline are critically important to brands and branding messages, but not nearly as important as a business with clear-cut genuine values run by people with clear-cut genuine attitudes. 

# # #  

Hal@TheWriterWorks.com or comment below.

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God bless you!

Budget-bashed?

Go for the GOLD!

You thought “Working Under Pressure” was a power-wash business? (I know, enough jokes; get to the free champagne part; OK, keep reading!) 

     Let’s imagine you’ve got a bashed budget in one hand and are limited to the Northeast. Well, that’s not a strangulation script all by itself, but now add to the mix that you’ve just gotten requests from above (in your other hand) to pull off a spectacular meeting at a spectacular location. Sound familiar?

     So how in the world do you find that top-quality all-inclusive, stunning property with less money than you had last year? Like the elusive butterfly that will land on your shoulder when you stop chasing it, STOP looking! This is a time for greatness. And you came to the right place. The champagne’s on ice, waiting for you. Read on. 

     This is a time to rise above the clutter and clamor, to find the exact right place at the exact right price and book it. It will come to you. Close your eyes… no, wait, don’t close your eyes; you’ll miss getting the answer. Here it comes… are you ready? Here it is:

     Take those meager budget dollars out of your sweaty little fist and count out what’s left. Go ahead; I’ll wait. Okay, good. Now, pick up the nearest phone and dial: 1.800.222.2909 and ask for Kristy, Kevin or Dan. If they’re not in, leave a message with your name and number and best times to call back.

     When you get one (or all) of them, tell he/she/them your sad story. Ask what’s possible… and remember to tell them you got their contact information from Hal’s Blog… they’ll throw in a free champagne toast to start or end your meeting (200 people? No problem!).

     Not only will you get everything your boss ever dreamed of and more in a truly spectacular setting with experienced top professional meeting support, food and room service staffs, plus every amenity imaginable, you can meet in private paradise just a 2-hour drive from Manhattan, 3 from Boston.

     From executive ropes course to golf and racecar-driving school to canoeing and kayaking, spacious clean rooms and top-rated casual dining with fresh EVERYthing, even homemade ketchup! The people you bring to this property will never stop talking about it, and they’ll never forget their meeting experience. What more can you ask?

     You want a taste before you call?

     Go to www.InterlakenInn.com right now. See for yourself why top meeting planners have been booking at Interlaken since the Berkshires had Foothills.        

# # #  

Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

FREE BLOG SUBSCRIPTION? Click on ”Posts RSS Feed” (Center Column), or now on your AMAZON Kindle for just $1.99 a month after a free trial. FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the end of the daily 263 days old growing tale! Click under “7-Word Story” (center column)