OVERWHELMED?

Make Decisions.

The most overwhelming thing about being overwhelmed is getting your decision making mechanism activated. The holiday season gives rise to getting your personal leadership gears stuck. People to see. Places to go. Events. Gifts. Special meals. Family reunions. And always, there’s business and career. So much to do and so little time.

“Personal Leadership”? Yes, I did mention that. As in leading your SELF  through all the excitement, clamber, congestion, over-indulgence temptations, and disheartening year-end assessments, to a place of reckoning.

That translates to getting UNstuck by getting back in touch with your ability to prioritize and make decisions. There’s really no place else to start except with yourself. If you aren’t healthy and moving forward, how can your business be?

Here’s an old standby method that always works and will help you get UNstuck now. . .

START by listing the 6 critical personal leadership categories at the top of your Word page or Excel grid or piece of paper: spritual, intellectual, physical, emotional, mental, financial. Then itemize random points/parts/ issues that need attention under each heading. Maximum 3 minutes for each column. (If it takes longer to think of, it’s not critical!)

Then, consolidate all items that can be addressed in a bundle fashion or that may represent duplication of effort.

Next– and always with the understanding and expectation that priorities can change in an instant– assign priority number values to each item in each column. Maximum 1 minute per column.

NOW, assign * or ** or *** to each #1 item in each column, then to each #2 item, etc. Take *designated #1 item and attack it. NOW. When it’s done, move on to *designated #2 item, and so on, through **designated #1 items, etc.

Always be prepared to re-prioritize based on what may end up in your face that changes the circumstances. The trick is to use determination and stick-to-it-ive-ness to take each challenge to a point of resolution before moving ahead to the next one.

When you clear the decks of issues that jam up your personal leader-ship skills, go for the rest of the overwhelm. You will be enormously more successful at business, career, and family leadership when you simply start making decisions about how to first deal with you so the rest of what you do is coming from a position of strength, and a true leadership posture.

Oh, and take lots of deep breaths and make it fun whenever you can. Those are choices, you know.

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Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0911

FAULT AND BLAME

 DON’T MAKE SALES!

Here we sit, small business owners, managers, and entrepreneurs, on the day of the first 2012 Presidential Debate. We are seething with anger, frustration, disappointment, and stress over what has and hasn’t happened since the last 2008 Presidential Debate. We blame it all on the political candidate we least agree with. And the harder we blame, the more we lose.

We have seen our businesses and personal finances go every direction except up.

We have become more outspoken about that, especially as we’ve seen respect for America’s military and America’s job and housing markets collapse . . . and food and gas and transportation prices explode through the roof! Normally free-spending customers have become suddenly frugal and stoic. All of that must, after all, be somebody’s fault.

But let’s be honest with ourselves here. How much real fault sits on our own shoulders for not planning properly, for not adjusting our business and professional practice development strategies appropriately, for not having solid contingency plans in place? It’s true that some circumstances prevent proactive business management. But many do not.

The way I see it, we have indeed had pathetic government leadership, but aren’t we just as much to blame as anyone for not keeping our own businesses fluid as they slid sideways across the top of shifting sands. After all, we chose to stand there in the first place. With that commitment, comes the responsibility to be flexible and stay forever on the alert. Am I alone here?

I’m not suggesting that going with the flow is easy. But, with a small business, it’s essential.

And that means staying tuned in to government screw-ups and broken promises because they will–in the end–affect where, when, and if you grow… or even if you survive! Easy to “Tuesday morning quarterback,” yes, but we’re looking at a lot more shifting sand before we see solid ground no matter who gets or doesn’t get elected.

It took us time to get here; it will take time to get out of here. So, there’s no time like the present to reassess your branding efforts, to initiate an overhaul of priorities and to inject time and expertise (necessary business growth ingredients that no doubt feel unaffordable) into monthly, weekly, and daily schedules.

That investment alone can make the difference for you no matter what happens on November 6th. And hopefully something will happen. The bottom line:

SALES MAKE BUSINESSES GROW.

FAULT AND BLAME AND PROMISES DON’T MAKE SALES!

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HAL ALPIAR Writer/Consultant 302.933.0911 TheWriterWorks.com, LLC

National Award-Winning Author & Brand Marketer – Record Client Sales

Open Minds Open Doors

How un-balanced ARE you?

No matter how much you may think you are in tune or in touch with yourself, if you own or operate or manage a business –new. old, big, small, medium, family, self-employed or otherwise– take it from me who’s experienced all of the above firsthand: you are UN-balanced!

This means that negative stress is seeping in. It’s invading you even as you think it’s not. And it’s taking it’s toll.

How to regain control? First, you need to know where it’s coming from. Odds are it’s some combination of emotional, intellectual, and physical upset or dysfunction. The challenge is to isolate how much is coming from where and when, then to determine the how.

Once you have done an honest self-evaluation, you’re in a better position to reverse the flow and the damage.

Aaah, but this isn’t as easy as it sounds. Read that How to regain control paragraph again.

In some rare instances, it may be just a matter of seconds, minutes or hours to do all these analytics (and you thought analytics were just for SEO geeks doing website tricks?), but if you’re serious about rising to the occasion and getting your act together, be prepared to take days or weeks or months.

(Maybe years!)

Once you’ve done a be-honest-with-yourself inventory (like the doctor’s diagnostic work-up), separate and identify the key issues or stress points that seem to be creating or causing the most unbalance. Put them on paper or in a Word file bullet list. Prioritize by ranking them with 1-3 or 1-10 values in order of most critical (usually this translates to most immediate need).

Consider your own self-prognosis. What’s the best and worst you can expect in terms of timing and accomplishing the tasks associated with eliminating or minimizing the culprit behaviors or influences? What’s the quickest/easiest/smartest/safest way to get back in balance?

Okay, that’s the hardest part. Now initiate treatment. Simple? No. Painless? Pr0bably not. But much easier than the process steps needed to honestly assess and evaluate. After all, you are the only one who can unbalance you. And you are also the only one who can regain control. Bottom line: Nothing happens until you do!

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HAL ALPIAR Writer/Consultant 302.933.0911 TheWriterWorks.com, LLC

National Award-Winning Author & Brand Marketer – Record Client Sales

Open Minds Open Doors

Consider the worst,

 but assume the best!

There’s no longer any excuse for being surprised in business (or life) when you’re able to discipline yourself to practice the thinking: “What’s the worst that could happen?” in every major decision . . . and then proceed to believe that only the best outcome will actually occur to reward your efforts!

Mind over matter? Perhaps. But, more than that, each worst case scenario situation you consider will better prepare you for the reality of what’s possible while it protects your belief in making happen what’s probable.

In other words, you will move forward most effectively when you’ve weighed the risks involved realistically.

Every leader worth her or his salt will attest to this thinking. The difference between it and a proverbial doomsday attitudes is simply that considering bad outcomes need only be a momentary departure from the positive thrust of making something positive happen.

Dwelling on negativity produces negativity.

Well, you say, making negative thoughts be fleeting ones is easy to SAY, you say. Ah, but it’s also easy to DO. Doesn’t it all come down to a matter of choice, after all? We do, by the way, choose our behaviors, yes?

So can we not simply choose to make  negative thoughts be benchmarks with a caution flag?

Who’s to say that considering the worst possible outcome has to be a long, drawn-out, analytical affair? It’s as quick as saying, “If I take this deal, I could lose the farm” and then realize the risk is not a reasonable one. (Contrary to popular opinion, by the way, Entrepreneurs take only reasonable risks.)

If you have trouble stopping your own runaway train when decisions come to the surface, force yourself to close your mouth and take a deep breath through your nose. Get more oxygen into your brain and more blood-flow into your muscles. Then exhale the stress slowly through your mouth.

Every choice you make is a better choice when you have better control of yourself. More deep breathing more often will put you in better control of your self. Is that a no-brainer, or what? All from making the choice to consider the worst that could happen before moving forward? Whew! Look at what you just taught yourself. The lesson is worth repeating:

Make the choice to consider the worst

that could happen before moving forward.

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HAL ALPIAR Writer/Consultant 302.933.0911 TheWriterWorks.com, LLC

National Award-Winning Author & Brand Marketer – Record Client Sales

When to draw the line_______

You’ve already done all that you were contracted to do, but the client keeps making changes, causing delays in the agreed-to timeline. The result is you are unable to move forward (or even sideways) with the next phase, and unable to send an additional invoice. Okay, so maybe a “client-changes” policy should have been put in place or made clearer from the outset.

But what’s done is done, and here you are, getting stressed.

What to do? When do you draw the line?

“I know, I know,” you say,

“it’s just a matter of being more assertive.”

Right! That always sounds like the right answer, but you run the risk of losing the client, future business and referrals if you are perceived as too pushy or demanding, or if some request you make for added fees gets interpreted as sounding unreasonable.

What to do? When do you draw the line?

Renegotiate.

Okay, that makes sense, but every professional salesperson will tell you that the starting point for virtually every successful negotiation or re-negotiation is to ask questions!

So maybe the answer to: “What to do? When do you draw the line?” is:

As soon as you have a strong, meaninful,

and productive list of questions to ask!

When you start with questions, you can use questions to make your point without risking your relationship.

Y’think?

Well consider how you’d respond to being told that you look like a nervous wreck and should get better control of yourself vs. simply being asked: “Are You Breathing?”

Think about your present circumstances. What are the three most important questions you can ask to win your client’s relationship security, project support . . .  and open the door for your next invoice? Making things change is, after all, your choice. Yup! YOUR choice!

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HAL ALPIAR Writer/Consultant 302.933.0911 TheWriterWorks.com, LLC

National Award-Winning Author & Brand Marketer – Record Client Sales

E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P . . .

Need A Crowbar

to Separate

Business

From Personal???

If your answer is YES, you are probably an entrepreneur. You probably make yourself so busy that the line between personal and business interests is as inexorably blurred as cataract vision, right? Well, there is hope, and no, it doesn’t have to be laser surgery!

In good times, it’s called “vacation,” and since that probably hasn’t been the case in five years, you may want to call it “taking breaks.” Don’t look so scornful. Taking frequent breaks has been proven to actually increase productivity.

The most successful of two small business owners, for example, doing the same kind of work in the same number of hours, will be the one who takes regular breaks . . . start with not eating lunch at your desk, and getting up and walking around more. Stretching your arms, legs, back and neck is always rewarding. (Try it with your speaker phone on!)

Taking breaks is not an activity that should be limited to leaders or followers, to teams or individuals, to owners or partners or operators or coffeeholics. If you’re a human being, you need breaks in the action! If you’re not a human being, and you’re reading this, contact me immediately (phone and email below) — we can make a lot of money together!

When you’re vaguely aware of getting too fat, too skinny, too lightheaded, too clumsy, too disoriented, too mean-spirited, too ANYthing — before you race off to the doctor, make sure it’s not simply a case of failing to give your body and mind more attention than the tasks at hand. Tasks won’t get done right without being mentally and physically alert.

Looking for “how-to’s”? Put small reminder notes to yourself in your face . . . on mirrors, your wristwatch, your cellphone, your briefcase, your dashboard, your wallet: “BREATHE” or “STRETCH” or “EXERCISE” or “EAT BETTER” or “TAKE A WALK” or “PLAY MORE” — whatever works for you! Ask someone close to you to prompt you, or give you wake-up calls!

Entrepreneurs have a way of muddying up their internal fluids because they believe that they ARE their businesses and if they stop, the businesses stop. This of course is true at many levels, but not overall, and not all the time, and not nearly as much as small business owners and operators lead themselves to believe.

When in doubt, try it. What have you got to lose by taking a couple more breaks every day? Stress? Well . . . 

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Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0116

Mom and Pop Businessess

Are Alive and Well In

Every Industry

and Marketplace

Because so many entrepreneurial ventures are launched, or brought on by, or result in hardworking people who also share a couple relationship (and because the marriage and work relationship I had with my wife lasted over 25 years), it seemed appropriate to devote a post to the subject. Maybe a couple of experience points here can benefit others?

• FIRST: If you are in a love/work relationship and not killing each other every night, congratulations and God Bless You! You have somehow managed (or are at least still managing) to beat the odds. Being the spouse of a business owner or the spouse who is the brains behind the business owner (or are an involved but not-married business couple!) makes you special!

Very few relationships can withstand the attack on emotional, rational, and physical sensibilities that are brought on by the stress of running a business together, while living under the same roof. It’s important to stay “here-and-now” as much as possible. Have flexible, specific, realistic, due-dated goals (and write them down!), but remain focused on the present.

RELY ON HUMOR.

It takes a special way of relating to one another that requires greater sensitivity and sense of purpose than  a typical marriage where one or both partners leave the home each morning and return each night. I have often counseled to paint a line around the bedroom doorway and threshold beyond which, business discussions are not allowed . . . and communicate, communicate, communicate! Listen, listen, listen!

• SECOND: Extreme trust and extreme sacrifice are the two characteristics of successful work/love relationships that cannot be compromised under any circumstances . . . ever! The temptations will be endless, but violating your love/work partner’s trust or not pulling your share of the load spell instant business failure, and often instant relationship failure too!

This distills down to being constantly conscious of not putting yourself in situations that could undermine the well-being of either your work or emotional relationship. Don’t go out partying on your own. Don’t hang out at bars or strip-clubs or trade show suites when you’re on business trips. Don’t wear provocative outfits when you’re on the road or attending meetings. Making a business and a relationship work at the same time requires integrity.

In other words, don’t ask for trouble

 because you’ll surely find it.

Working couples need to accept that friction will always be present. The trick is to work at making it be positive and productive friction. It takes far greater tolerance, patience and understanding than a non-working-together-couple relationship. The trade-off is that working couples–two people with one mindset–are almost always more effective and successful than flying solo.

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Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0116

“If you think sometimes

  that you just can’t win,

remember that life

is not a contest!”

— Kathy Alpiar

She reminded me of this shortly before her life struggles ended this past March at age 55. She had reminded me of it often over the last 25 years of our marriage . . .  almost always after my face retreated into my hands bemoaning some frustrating situation or another that I had somehow boxed myself into. I’m told everyone does this on occasion?

If you’re an American, you probably grew up with the conviction that everything you had to deal with every day –from school and Scouts to college or trade school and a career to marriage and family raising– was (is) a contest!

Admittedly, in a nation dominated by sports performance and competition at literally every level of life, it’s hard to grasp that “life is not a contest.”

But it’s NOT a contest.

(Workaholics, please re-read those last five words!)

• Life is a gift. It is a blessing. We either consciously or unconsciously choose to embrace it, or choose to waste it.

• Life is a waste when it’s obsessively dedicated to ultimately meaningless, make-believe values — making money, acquiring things, trying to impress, being self-serving and self-indulgent, putting others down, bullying, chastising differences, thinking and acting dishonestly.

How much of our precious time on Earth is wasted each day trying to get even; trying to undermine, manipulate, or represent ourselves as more than what we are; trying to pretend; trying to bait those who are weaker into our arena so we can defeat them or make them look foolish? Can any of that possibly be serving our true best interests?

If the answer to that question about how much time, by the way, is anything more than one minute, it may be worthwhile to think twice about Kathy’s quote. In other words, is our purpose here on this planet to make a difference?

How important is integrity?

Kathy wasn’t suggesting that we all abandon competition and head for some mountaintop to meditate on our navels. Of course we have to be responsible to earn a living and pay our bills. But what she was saying was that there’s a whole lot more to life than having such narrow pursuits d-i-c-t-a-t-e human existence.

Entrepreneurs get pounded over the head with these finger-waving “take time to smell the flowers” thoughts because they tend to disappear into a product/service development zone to the exclusion of friends, family, and many of life’s joyful experiences. They substitute the pursuit of “success” to the exclusion of what’s around them. I know because I’ve been there.

But I’ve come to realize that return on investment is not the sole province of business. ROI has also to do with having an ongoing sense of humor, a conscious effort to cultivate only positive stress, making room in our lives for living, keeping our promises, and being perpetually focused on service to others. Thanks Kathy.

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Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0116