Are you playing

with yourself?

. . . business is

a team sport!

     Don’t you just love it when a word older than the Civil War makes a comeback and ends up on top of the heap? Collaboration. It’s the hot new buzz word in business. Who knew? It’s strategic alliance, cooperation, shared interests, communication, interaction, productivity, and teamwork all rolled into one.

     Whoa! And it’s not a legal, structured entity so there are no lawyers involved. What could offer greater promise for success?

     Did you think that just because you run your own business, you no longer need to worry about or deal with anyone else? Did you think “Solopreneuring” would or should render you independent? Did you think when you hung out your solo practitioner shingle, you could function completely on your own?

     No more. Maybe small business hasn’t yet caught up with the giant union-based companies feeding on bailout tax dollars, or the Silicon Valley techies housed in converted warehouses with coed bathrooms, and elevated bunkbeds hovering over their computer workstations. But small businesses ARE collaborative.

     Successful small business owners recognize they cannot withstand today’s economic forces with their incessant coastal flooding and gale warnings simply by hunkering down and having an inflatable lifeboat ready.

     Doctors (including those who directly compete) can no longer exist without other doctors’ referrals. Downtown business membership organizations (including many directly competitive retailers) work together to stimulate customer foot traffic. Online and offline services are sharing services with other online and offline services.

     Many compatible and/or competitive businesses are partnering up for centralized buying services in order to exercise greater clout in winning product and service quantity and shipping discounts. Many others share creative development talents. There are even collaboration website resources like http://www.collaboratingentrepreneur.com for small business owners (which is well worth a visit).

     Business employee alumni associations are cropping up with collaborative applications designed to capitalize on the life and career paths of former (retired or moved on) employees who have maintained loyalty and/or contact since leaving. New revenue streams and solidified client sales have evolved from these collaborations.

A FREE, do-it-yourself, 2-page Business Employee Alumni Association

How-To Guide is available via email to me at the address below.  

     The point is that if you’re playing with yourself (pardon the double entendre), you are living in the dark ages, and you need to come up for air, look around, and see how you can help yourself (and others) by combining forces, interests, and financial pursuits. No contracts, no lawyers, and no money required. Go for it!

Comment below or direct to Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! Get blog emails FREE via RSS feed OR $1 mo Amazon Kindle. Gr8 Gift 4 GRANDPARENTS: http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

Get it out of the elevator 

and into your pocket!

     The more you recite your “Elevator Speech” — you know, that little one-sentence description of what your business is all about that you would presumably use to tell your whole business story to a stranger during the few seconds of an elevator ride — the better it will get.

     It’s like the repetition of any story: the more you tell it, the more polished you’ll make it, the more effectively it will communicate, the more enticing a spiel it will become. But to make it work, you have to use it over and over and over again (Repetition Sells!): in meetings, at social gatherings and community events, waiting in lines, and yes, even weddings and funerals.

     That sounds distasteful to you? Sorry. It’s reality. No one’s ever really offended by quiet discreet sharing of an information one-liner that’s descriptive, in good taste, and doesn’t require ten paragraphs to explain it.

     If you have your own business — or you’re a sales rep, which means you have your own business — you are expected to be able to say what you’re all about in one clear, concise (and hopefully energetic) statement that you can say comfortably without struggling for breath..  

     “So, hey, Philamena, I hear you run your own business; whadda’ya do?”

     Please don’t tell the guy you’re a EXIF 2.2 expert who consults on compatibility of PIM and PictBridge. You might instead try: “We help individuals and businesses that work with photography to find the  computer printer systems that best fit their needs.” 

     I know it’s tempting to let others know that you’re a CTS PT who specializes in inflamed flexor tendons instead of simply explaining you’re a “physical therapist who helps people with wrist pain from repetitive motion (like computer operation, packing and assembly, or hammering) to not lose time at work.”

     Odds are if you’re new in business, you still need to tend to the polishing up of this “best set of words.” If you’ve been around awhile, you probably recite the same old statement every day to everyone and haven’t stopped to actually think about it for a long time.

     So, whichever situation best describes you, stop and think about it! Ask others around you what they think of your concentrated explanation.

     Remember that you only get one chance at a first impression. With today’s business economy, there’s no room for saying even one single word in your elevator speech that’s wrong, or that doesn’t enhance the communication value of explaining what your business does, or that doesn’t intrigue others. 

     Once you think you’ve got it, get it out of the elevator. Put it in your pocket and take it everywhere with you. Never stop refining it. And keep feeding it to your employees as the words you want them to use to describe the business anytime someone asks them (and hopefully, of their own accord, when no one asks!)

Comment below or Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US 

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

Make today it a GREAT day for someone!

Hold your nose

and dunk under

 the wave . . . or 

 ride it to shore!

     Surfers (not the TV channel kind!) are actually smarter than they look. They know enough to take a deep breath and either dunk under a wave to get out of the way, or stand up and ride it onto the beach. When your business cash flow is outbound, it’s time to make that same decision.

     If you choose to dunk under — like leave town, change your name, and disappear into some cave or head for the islands (until your butt’s hauled back to jail) — go for it! But prepare (at least) for a stiff neck from looking back over your shoulder 16 hours a day … maybe work for a chiropractor?

     My guess is that when payables tip the receivables scale into the stratosphere, most of us will opt for survival instead of surrender. Certa Bonum Certamen say the Latins (“Fight The Good Fight”) and giving our businesses CPR is certainly preferable to filing Chapter 11. Rule of thumb: One first aider beats a full house of lawyers.

     Okay, so where to start? Make the unpleasant calls to creditors; beg for mercy; give them (and stick to) payback plans. Stay in communication with them no matter how awkward, uncomfortable or embarrassing it feels. DO NOT borrow money to pay back loans; it will catch up with you.

     Consider reputable debt consolidation services. Fill in staff-cutback areas with interns. It’s true a recent President kind of ruined that idea, but truth is that if you’re willing to provide the proper guidance and leadership, you can literally build an empire on the enthusiasm and energy of young interns.

     The best source of interns (and usually a structured program that keeps students focused and offers employers recourse) will come from your nearest community college, though some major universities have established highly successful internship (often called “cooperative education”) programs.

     Interns will occasionally work for free, sometimes for commission or bonus arrangements, and often for minimum wage or less. They require ongoing supervision. You may have to fill out evaluation forms and meet with a faculty or administrative advisor once a semester. That’s it. If this is something you want to make work, make it work.

     If you’re a one-man-band, ask family members for hours in exchange for breakfasts or dinners out, or periodic sports or concert tickets … i-tune cards? Be creative.

     One boss I know who’s struggling to get his business back on its feet reports getting productive work hours from his cousin’s teenage son in exchange for covering periodontal work (teeth braces) not covered by insurance. He gets six months of work from another relative in exchange for new tires on two family cars.

     Be creative. Make it work. Ride it to shore!

Comment below or direct to Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! Get blog emails FREE via RSS feed OR $1 mo Amazon Kindle. Gr8 Gift 4 GRANDPARENTS: http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

Arrogance

and obstinancy

are not solutions to 

sales, job creation,

 or healthcare!

     If you’re searching for role-models to run up some business success, don’t waste your time copying what government and union “leaders” practice. Arrogance and obstinancy don’t work. Running roughshod over the public and small business doesn’t cut it.

     Consistently practicing integrity and authenticity (not just talking about it) is what wins sales. Treating every person you encounter with respect, every day, is what wins support.

     Giving genuine help (meaningful tax incentives) to small businesses to create jobs will produce the jobs needed to turn the economy around. This canNOT be accomplished by government plans to use the $30 billion TARP funds that are intended to offset the national deficit. All that that will accomplish will be to dig the economy even deeper into debt by having the 100% inept SBA provide loans for small businesses to pay off other loans. Seems to me that’s the definition of a vicious circle!  

     Union management is cashing in its presidential election chips and driving federal government puppets (with state governments sadly falling into step) into making decisions and spending money that no one has. These are the dynamics that are driving the American economy into the ground. 

     How far do you think you would get if you were legally insolvent and went on a family spending spree — cars, cruises, expensive restaurants and entertainment, new appliances, a vacation home…? What makes that irresponsible behavior acceptable as a government or union path?

     Has anyone asked small business people what they think the best economy solutions are? (No, not the Small Business Administration, which is comprised of corporate and government administrators who have little if any hard-nosed small business know-how or experience.)

     Yet, in the entire history of the United States, hasn’t it ALWAYS been job creation by small businesses that have bailed out sour economies? 

     It’s all about misplaced and misguided priorities. There is NO way to fix healthcare without first fixing the economy. And there is NO way to fix the economy without small business birthing new jobs. 

     The government, and union management,must learn that the solutions they seek will not come about by banging the door harder. A battering ram doesn’t produce progress or better answers. It really is time to listen to those who know best about how to jumpstart small business to create jobs — small business owners and entrepreneurs.

     Surely they will produce more meaningful answers than other politicians or big business union management.

Integrity and authenticity start with genuine respect, listening, and attentiveness. Can we please see some evidence of those behaviors offered to the small business community?

Comment below or direct to Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! Get blog emails FREE via RSS feed OR $1 mo Amazon Kindle. Gr8 Gift 4 GRANDPARENTS: http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

R.I.P. Butch Taras

     I, and roughly 149 other guys (including two women) who play senior softball (many of us year-round when weather permits) in Southern Delaware, learned today that all of us lost a special teammate, a friend … and an outstanding human being in Butch Taras.

     Hard to imagine 150 teammates in softball? Well, that’s because it really never mattered to Butch which of the ten or so teams you played for –or even whether you were playing against the team he was assigned to. Nor did it make any difference that you might be giving him a run for the money in game performance or you were the worst player in the league. He respected everyone equally.

     But don’t think his authenticity made him a pushover. Butch was the poster boy for competitive spirit, and took winning seriously (more than once I found him at the field on an off-day, by himself, hitting one ball after another from a practice T “to improve” his near-flawless swing!).

     The bottom line is that Butch was a leader through and through because he considered everyone a teammate.

     What made this behavior especially endearing is that Butch was a truly gifted athlete who could do almost everything better than almost everybody. He was arguably the finest all-around performer in our league of 150 seniors. But he never carried his superior athletic prowess on his sleeve. In fact, except for his World Championship Softball ring that he wore with great pride, he never spoke of his abilities.

     Friendliness, humility, and courage are the traits I most admired and associated with the Butch Taras I knew. He was a “gentleman” in every sense of the word, on the field and off. And now, he has left us after such an abrupt bout with cancer that it’s hard to believe that 20 of us shared the field with him just 4-5 weeks ago!

     We all knew he was battling his way through pain and stressful treatments. And each of us in our own ways let him know that he and his devoted wife Carol could count on us for support. His positive attitude prevailed to the end. It was and –I know I speak for all of us whose lives he touched– shall forever be, an inspiration to us all. 

I know, Butch, that I won’t be the only one to reminisce and compare your great lefty power with every long-ball blast to deep right field, nor will I be the only one to remember the encouraging pats on the back you gave me for meager little pop-up singles. And who can ever forget the sincerity of your pledge to overcome this terrible disease, or the sparkle in your eyes when you spoke of your wife and family? 

God bless you and your family, Butch. You will be dearly missed, but never forgotten. Thank you from us all for having made a difference in our lives.”

~~~~~~~~~~~Visit Hal’s Recent Guest Blog Posts~~~~~~~~~~~

• “The SALES Snow Job” @ http://bit.ly/bYHmXx
• “Got A Sick Website?” @ http://bit.ly/6iYe6g    
• “Leadership Puzzles” @ http://tinyurl.com/yfsczbk 
• “What’s Your T-Shirt Say?” @ http://bit.ly/7K0s4a   

Comment below or direct to Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! Get blog emails FREE via RSS feed OR $1 mo Amazon Kindle. Gr8 Gift 4 GRANDPARENTS: http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

Life lessons from

an 8 year-old!

     Yeah, I know, I know. Everyone has brilliant kids and grandkids. Just ask; you’ll get an earful, and that’ll probably be accompanied by an accordion photo show from the wallet or purse. The thing is we all talk about how bright kids are, but do we really listen hard to what they say and think hard about what’s behind the words they put out?

     Do you think they’re trying to tell us something?

     Check out the following messages which were bundled together and hand-lettered onto a little wall plaque gift from my 8 year-old granddaughter (who I was astonished to learn, has her own blog!):

Life is a question. No person on earth is your enemy but you. You can’t deside what you were born with but you can deside how you end up.

Being happy is beyond a feeling. Its a way of life. Questions are endless but only one awnser is you.

You can dream without imaganation but you can’t dream without a beleif.

You are who you are and know one can stop you.”

— Gwyn, Age 8 

     Where’s the business message? When times are tough and everyone seems to be struggling to make sales and dig out from under, temptation is great to work harder longer hours and let some family time slip away.

     I cast my vote against that idea. I’ve never known a business growth or sales situation to suffer from working harder, but I’ve seen many lives destroyed by breadwinners working longer hours.

     Of course there are bills to be paid, but there are also children to be raised and family roots to be planted, and nurtured. There’s an age-old excuse that surfaces frequently for the convenience of those who’ve chosen to set themselves up to get sucked into working longer hours.

     They say: “It’s the quality of the time we spend together as a family that counts.” Hard to argue with that, right? It makes sense, right? The trouble is that emotions don’t make sense, and families are all about emotions. Don’t let the sudden lack of financial independence thrust you into a family-distancing role of martyr. The stress alone isn’t worth the commensurate loss of life it cultivates.

     There are always other options.

     One major option is to stop thinking you have to carry the full load on your shoulders. Hold a family meeting. Keep it lighthearted, but discuss financial circumstances openly and honestly. Ask for ideas and input and don’t rush to judgement on thoughts shared that may at first seem empty or naive … like Granddaughter Gwyn’s philosophizing above.

     All well-intended thoughts have a meaningful core or point of origin. Search these out. Give the benefit of doubt. Ask yourself what you can learn from them, what they may cause you to think of. A small business is much more of a living entity than a giant corporation. It’s like a member of the family (and especially if it’s a family business!) so give it the benefit of others’ thoughts as well as your own.

     The more you ask for and listen attentively to input, the more you stand to gain in both respect and sales. The better your odds of achieving by working harder AND smarter without having to work longer.

Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US 

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

If your Valentine list

doesn’t include your

business, get some

marriage counseling, 

or get out!

     Why? Because –first of all– if you own or run a business, you’re married to it. Second– nobody else can love your business for you. And if you’re not head-over-heels with it, your options are slim. You stand to bring it and/or yourself and/or your family tumbling into the kind of abyss that one might expect only to see in a Harry Potter movie. So get up or get out before you get whacked!

     Results of a new 2010 survey by the highly esteemed and credible The Conference Board, as reported in the Corporate Communicator (subscribe free to this great newsletter at www.bonmotcomms.com) show that only 45% of Americans are satisfied with their work…the lowest figure in 22 years!

     In other words, small business owners and managers are now facing big business problems. If The Conference Board findings are correct, and there’s never been any reason I know of to doubt their studies, those of you with 100 employees, have 55 unhappy employees; if you have 20 employees, 11 are unhappy! That’s an awful lot of discontent under one roof (especially if you don’t love your business)! 

     Whether little thumpity-thump hearts fly into the air when you think about your business or not, this 45% figure still spells disaster. It still means the odds are that a majority of people in your company are dragging their butts around, collecting paychecks and benefits from you for doing only the amount of work that’s necessary in order to collect paychecks and benefits from you.

     “Yeah,” says you, “but I can’t pay out any more than I am right now!”

     Ah, but –believe it or not, and EVEN in this economy– money is not always what turns frowns to smiles and negative attitudes to positive ones. Of course paychecks and benefits are important, and even more so where cutbacks have been necessary. But here are some proven solutions you can try, or use to prompt your own versions:

• Do everything you can to help employees be more a part of decision making (particularly as it impacts how they interpret their individual job responsibilities) 
• Empower employees to exchange more job-productive ideas with one another
• Promote greater pride in employee workmanship
• Publicly acknowledge all over-the-top efforts (regardless of whether they succeed or fail) with small frequent rewards

     Selecting something to target from the above list should get you off on a better foothold if your business marriage has been faltering and all you’ve been seeing is stars and corkscrews spinning away from the tops of disgruntled heads.

     And if you still truly love your business and can’t stand the thought of divorce or separation, try cherry-picking off the above list anyway. It can help enhance your Valentine’s Day message to your business and will get you a whole lot further than expensive roses or candy. <3 <3 <3 <3 (uh, right: sideways hearts that the blog won’t let me close the spaces on! Cheers!)    

Comment below or direct to Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day!  Get blog emails FREE via RSS feed OR $1 mo Amazon Kindle. Gr8 Gift 4 GRANDPARENTS: http://bit.ly/3nDlGF

Are You

Communicating

Your Brains Out?

Before you throw in the frustration towel over the failure of those who work with you to follow the enlightened path of leadership you carve out, get in front of a mirror; take off your hat and toupee; and examine your brain(s).

If you’re thinking the people around you are getting dumber than horseshoes, see if maybe — just by chance — there are any big bumps on your brain that seem to be causing you to shut down the power valve on your communicating channels.

The first symptom is evident by measuring the expressions of those who work with you. If they’re yawning and listening to their watches or sextexting while you’re talking, you’re probably not giving them enough information. If they’re squinting and frowning and writing too frantically to even look up while you’re talking, you’re probably giving them too much information.

How will you know when you’re communicating just the right amount of information? People will look and act attentive. They’ll ask relevant questions. They’ll ask for examples to clarify their interpretations of your comments. They’ll ask for diagrams, resources, directions. You will see active nods of agreement and reasonably-paced note taking.

Alert, receptive people who are getting your message will sit or stand leaning slightly forward without (defensive) folded arms or legs or ankles or hands. Watch out for the guy who sprawls way back in his chair with (superiority) clasped hands behind his head! And beware the individual whose clasped hands form a forefinger “steeple” especially with forefinger-tips to her lips (which means she thinks she knows more than you about the subject, and is saving up her attack for the right, most devastating, moment)!

Those three posture-people are holding back what they really think, believe, or want to say. Don’t let them disrupt your flow or presentation. Call on them as soon as you see these body language clues. Ask for their thoughts right away. Encourage them to offer their opinions.

Then it’s your turn to listen carefully, make notes, and ask questions about their comments . Today’s leaders are those who rally teamwork by setting examples with their leadership. Active listening, observation skills, and feedback are all enormously important factors in leadership level communications.

Setting examples with your leadership requires you to communicate just the right amount of information to get things done. That means (besides listening, observation, and feedback) to process carefully what you see and hear, and to put your hat and toupee back on before you leave your mirror.

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0911

“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!

Is Your Business

A Headcase?

The word therapy may sound ominous to the business mind. It evokes the specter of illness, or worse, of craziness. That should not be. Therapy is part of education. Therapy teaches us through personal experience about who we are and how we became that way. Therapy teaches us how personal responsibility plays a role in who we are. Therapy teaches us how we relate to others and how important other people are in the conduct of our lives. And therapy helps us claim our freedom and take charge of our lives. These are all elements of growing up and getting a complete education.”

     If this seems like a strange and out-of-place subject for you, let me assure you that it is extremely relevant. Why? Because every business –like every human– has problems to solve that have been created and nurtured internally. And, more often than not, a great many of these are denied and consciously or inadvertently glossed over by the boss.

     If you were to distill down all my years of diverse career experiences into one defining function, it would be that I have been a reality therapist to businesses. Powerful corporate executives, entrepreneurs, sales and healthcare professionals alike have called me in the middle of the night, reduced to tears. They have called on the verge of lighting fuses to blow up their businesses.

     I’ve seen business temper tantrums where filled file folders, office equipment, and even scalpels were flung in rage across offices and into doors. Because businesses that needed therapy, that were being run by owners and managers who refuted the need for it, had no place else to bury upsets but inside the troubled stressed-out minds of their leaders.

     Every person and every business, I believe, can benefit by some degree of professional therapy engagement at some point, perhaps continuously, in their lives. Therapy need not be as threatening or embarrassing as Hollywood would have us believe, nor as intimidating as the naysayers around us claim.

     The truth is therapy can be extremely enlightening, masterfully empowering, and a magnet for improved mental, physical, and emotional good health — the secret keys to increased sales!                  

     It may be useful to pause here and be reminded that the feelings of being threatened, embarrassed, and intimidated –like those feelings of enlightenment, empowerment, and improved health — are all behaviors and all behaviors are choices. Why choose negative over positive? Because of some fear? If the fear is not genuine, realistic, and physical, it is imagined; it is fantasy; it is also a choice!

     Many businesses fail because the leaders operate under a self-fulfilling prophecy that a business is beyond repair and nothing can be done to save it. The economy. The bank. The landlord. Lousy sales. Lazy employees. Products or services without real benefits or competitive advantages. No future. Poor track-record. They fail.

     The fix? Hire an informed, experienced, fresh, outside perspective to shrink out your business and coach your leaders.

     Savvy business owners and managers recognize that the business needs to be considered a living, breathing organism, and treated as if it were a separate individual entity apart from the paperwork, computer files, and physical workspace.

     In this context, business therapy can be a healthy and productive intervention capable of turning problems into opportunities. The distance from survive to thrive is measured in receptive leadership that’s willing to explore and innovate.

Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US 

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

No, we’re NOT past the worst,

the job creation plan’s a scam

…but yes, you can still thrive!

Here is The State of Small Business Message:

WORK HARDER, NOT SMARTER!

     Let the giant freshly-bailed-out corporations with taxpayer-dollar-supported operating budgets do all the “SMARTER” stuff. They did, after all, manage to get themselves financially stimulated, so they must be smarter than small businesses.

     And let us, the small businesses of America, simply not be stupid. Let us not be duped by grandiose, self-serving pep-talks that don’t walk the talk. We cannot choose to waste time and energy dealing with those down deep, fraudulent attempts to force-feed us bone-crushing defeats while patting us on the hands and telling us how great everything is going to be.

     Oh, sure, government should be rewarded for creating jobs, even though the jobs to be created are government job creations for government-funded projects being paid for with loans borrowed against our tax dollars? Does that sound like an economic recovery plan to you? It sounds like digging a deeper hole to me. Would you do this with your own business?

     But we can’t fight that without giving up our businesses and our lives to do it. We need to cast this misguided naivete aside and just get on with making our businesses work. Yes, that’s hard. And no, we’re NOT out of economic bad times; we have NOT turned the corner; things are NOT getting better. If you think otherwise, just look around you, and listen…

     But the good news is that, YES, we can survive and thrive. It means doing things differently. We need to not worry about rising above our nation’s financial mess and bureaucratic free-spending incompetence, and instead to concentrate all of our energy and attention on making our own businesses work better.

     That means we must accept the fact that to truly make a difference, we must work harder. Here’s one small example:

     If you can get yourself to work just 15 minutes earlier than usual and leave just 15 minutes later than usual everyday, you will be adding as much as 2.5 hours a week, which equals 10 hours a month, which translates to 125 hours a (50-week) year, which equals more than 15.6 extra full 8-hour work-DAYS a year. Uh ~~~ 3 WEEKS!

     What could you accomplishfor your business with those three additional weeks? How about if everybody in your business agrees to donate just 10 minutes a day of early arrival or stay late time? Hmmm. What else does that make you think about? 

     When you work harder, you lead by example, you attract more sales and referrals, you get more organized, your customers and suppliers will respect you more … and you’ll probably play harder too! You’re already working harder? Keep it up! It WILL pay you back!   

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Comment below or Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US 

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

Make Today a GREAT Day for Someone!