TOMORROW?

“It’s the first blank page

of  your 365-page book.

Write a good one!”

Thanks to Brad Paisley for the quote, and to my old friend Tony Emanueli, the very finest New Jersey Realtor, for sharing it <www.TonyEmanueli.com>

It has been commonly reported in the publishing world that more than 80% of all people believe they have a book to write. Keep in mind that:

A) Books don’t write themselves,

B) Your “Resolution ” to write a book (or even a 7 words-or-less billboard!) will never happen without a plan, and

C) NO plan (book-writing, business sales and development, professional practice growth) works without all five of the following criteria…

1… Your plan must be REALISTIC.

You cannot plan to write a bestseller that will also be the basis for an award-winning film. You cannot plan to price your book for $139.95 and think you’ll make enough money from sales to retire, or spend the rest of your life in luxury traveling the Mediterranean. You cannot plan to write exactly 327 and 1/2 pages or have a genuine leather dust cover. In your business or professional practice, or book, your plan must fit the reality of what you are TRULY capable of doing, not what you dream of doing. It is NOT “a wish.” It is an approach to taking action.            

2… Your plan must be SPECIFIC.

Don’t allocate 10-hour workdays to uninterrupted writing time unless you’re a hermit. Having a goal to sell a million units a year or “paint the Brooklyn Bridge” or to “clean the house” will never be as effective as an agreed-to-in-advance monthly sales goal , or a goal to paint each girder (or clean each room), so you can check off daily/weekly sales –girder or room at a time– what you are in the process of achieving, and gain a sense of realistic timing to complete the goal.

3… Your plan must be FLEXIBLE. 

Nothing is in concrete. Goals need to be changed to fit the reality of changing circumstances. A plan is meant to be edited and changed according to life circumstances. You can always keep the target and change the dates or the methods to use or the steps involved… or you can even change (enlarge/expand/ reduce/move the target to best accommodate the flow of people and changing events involved.

4… Your plan must have a DUE DATE.

Figure the hours and days and weeks and months, perhaps years, involved. If you approach the due date and see it won’t happen, regardless of whether the reason (There will A-L-W-A-Y-S be interruptions in life!), simply move the due date or reduce the desired results and get back on the horse. Remember #3 above and don’t berate yourself. Remember your due date is what you seek to achieve. It’s a target that you’re free to move or expand as circumstances dictate.

5… Your plan must be IN WRITING.

Electronic keyboard entries don’t cut it! There’s a physiological response that handwritten plans produce by sending the message from your brain, through your neck and shoulder and arm and wrist and hand to your pen into the ink, and onto paper that adds up to genuine commitment.

Have a happy, healthy, productive 2019-2020

filled with accomplishment of realistic,

specific, flexible, due-dated, handwritten

plans (not empty Resolutions) for your life,

your business, your professional practice

. . . and, yes, your book!

Watch where you’re going!

I watched a blind man’s golden retriever thread his master through the parking lot and into the giant retail outlet, through electronic doors and deftly around an oblivious woman who appeared cast in stone, at one with her shopping cart… surely not about to move.

The man and his companion worked their way around obstacles, displays, counters, other shoppers. They passed so briskly and so seemingly self-assured that only a few passerby even noticed just one pair of color-blind canine eyes leading three pair of legs.

But I did. And in a mere matter of seconds after the man’s best friend and the man were devoured by store traffic, my mind snapped to attention from its visual tracking trance and realized I had been witness to a man with no eyes. Mine began to fill with tears. Maybe it was being sad for him, or grateful for me, or simply the season, but…

All my weaknesses, complaints and woes went quickly off into space as I closed my eyes and considered for just a moment what my life would be like without ever again seeing a crepe myrtle in full bloom, the ocean, a blue heron following with its body its spindly silent legs as it creeps along the shore, a laughing toddler, deep woods, a frolicking litter of puppies, snow-topped mountains, my family, a book, works of art, lightening, swooping seagulls, my toothbrush, a roaring fireplace, faces, a Christmas tree…

Who could possibly want a Christmas present, who has full use of vision, after seeing someone who does not?

So, I am left to conclude

that Christmas is truly not

about either giving or receiving.

Christmas is instead about consciousness-raising, celebration, self-renewal, and setting out once again on our annual trek to make the most of what we already have, to better ourselves and the lives of those around us.

Christmas is a gentle wake-up call to remember we are here to make a difference on this planet, one day at a time, to focus on making what’s possible actually happen. Christmas is a time for melancholy, yes, but also for introspection. We remember that we have within each of us the ability to choose the pathways that make existence on Earth as worthy as what lives in the riches of our souls.

Here’s what I’ve learned (often the hard way, mind you) so here’s what I have to share: In both business and in life, watch where you’re going, but always think about where you are. Be grateful for all that is yours, and continue your work to grow your business so you can help others from a position of strength… because the greatest gift of all is love wrapped up in charity.

# # #

God Bless You One And All

And Merry Christmas To You!

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US    

1-931-854-0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

THANK YOU for your support 

A truly heartfelt thanks to each of you,

dear friends, you who stepped up to help

support movie pre-production expenses of

“FEARLESS! ABOUT LOVE”

CLICK PHOTO for first minute of musical movie!

You know who you are. We know who you are. And headed toward production in 2019, we know only that we couldn’t be here without you!

You are friends of Valerie, friends of Hal, friends of music and the performing arts. You are also friends of creative and determined entrepreneurship.

You are friends of this dynamic humorous and dramatic triple love tale that everyone can relate to.

And you are friends of the inspired music and lyrics that tell the whole story. Your support is genuinely appreciated. 

Readers, Writers, Healthcare Providers, 

First Responders, and more . . .

FREE WORKSHOP:

“Making Stress Work FOR You!”

      AND BOOKSIGNING:    

20% OF BOOK SALES DONATED TO

 Cookeville (TN) Regional Medical Center

CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

Putnam County Library Welcomes

National Award-Winning Author

     Hal Alpiar

Saturday  March 10^th   10:30am—Noon

HAL ALPIAR is author of nine books, including a 5-Star guide for physicians: DOCTOR BUSINESS. He is the National book award-winning author of DOCTOR SHOPPING for consumers, and his rave-reviews action-packed romantic-suspense tale of fiction: HIGH TIDE is inspired by true events. He wrote DOODLE-OO, a self-esteem development video in verse for 3-6 year-olds, “GOOD LUCK!” a rags-to-riches-and-prominence biography: and now: Healthcarepreneurs (for healthcare providers). Hal hosted his own major market daily radio show for three years and, beginning in April, will be co-hosting BUSINESSWORKS weekly talk show on 94.1 Cookeville, TN, with multiple podcast links. Editor-in-Chief for three regional business and health magazines, Hal was voted “Professor-of-the-Year” by students at both Pace University (NY) and Ocean County College (NJ). He also taught at Georgian Court University (NJ) and later served two 2-year federal appointments to the SBA Advisory Council. He was a U.S. Army Special Instructor, and spent 5 years on the Public Affairs Team of NCQHC (National Committee for Quality Health Care), now the National Quality Forum. His 40-year healthcare and business development coaching career continues as BUSINESSWORKS.US

D.I.Y. BUSINESS?

D.I.Y. PARENTING?

. . . Not unless you’re dumber than dirt!

OKAY, so let’s get this straight: You started your own business and/or have a new baby?

 YOU run your own business and/or you fumble through being a new parent?

NEITHER is true, but you’re thinking about one or both  endeavors? 

     “Do It Yourself” stuff may work for birthing and parenting if you are fully prepared, but–even then– you will need help from a physician or midwife and ultimately teachers and family members, not to mention online resources.

     “D.I.Y.” may also work for house renos if you have exceptional mechanical skills and/or significant demolition and construction experience, but that doesn’t mean you have what it takes to buy or sell a house without expert input at many levels… that’s what America’s two million licensed real estate agents are for.

     The same dynamics of this distinction apply in spades  to running and growing a business (and parenting)… where do you turn when you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place?

     Hopefully, you go to a knowledgeable resource you trust and are comfortable consulting with.

     Given entrepreneurial attitudes that orbit around “I can do it myself” thinking, very many ventures fail when the startup creator/innovator is absolutely 100% certain no help is needed. Established credible consultants and coaches will all tell you something like: “Don’t be cocky about your business baby unless you’re determined to tempt fate and get a firsthand lesson in humility, and perhaps bankruptcy

… if not physical and/or mental and/or emotional collapse, which could be waiting for you around the next corner. No need to fear, but there IS need to be smart!”

Determination…

not close-mindedness

…is the road to success in

both parenting and business.

     Think hard about what you need to know, or do, to put your business over the top. Then exercise due diligence in finding and vetting the person, team, or service that’s affordable (as measured against financial collapse) and that has the expertise you need to prevent or turn your predicament into an asset, your problem into a solution, your stress into positive energy… your fears and doubts into enlightenment.

     Keep in mind that when you exercise this approach, you are –in fact– pursuing a D.I.Y. solution. You are finding the help you need for your SELF, on your own, and on your own terms. And that pursuit alone proves you are smarter than the norm, and much less likely to end up with a failed business with success on the horizon.

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US   931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Business Lesson #2 from FEARLESS! The Musical . . .

“Yesterday Is Over”

     Song Title From: “FEARLESS The Golden Love Musical” ©2012 Valerie Connelly and Nightengale Media, LLC.

If you own, operate and/or manage a business

or professional practice of any kind,

consider this reminder a kick in the butt!

STOP talking and thinking about what’s more than a minute old. There are only two legitimate exceptions:

When your mind needs to stray for a few moments to take a pleasant relaxing reminiscent journey as a break in your stressful activities.

When you need to tap your memory banks for a quick assessment of what you once did or failed to do that will help an immediate circumstance.

If you’re dwelling on past events, you’re wasting your time, your energy and your money . . . and probably the time, energy and money of others as well.

Anything more than a clock-tick old

is in the past!

When you find your mind drifting into the past for anything other than to seek a relaxing, pleasant memory or to retrieve a decision-making bit of information, pinch yourself!

Zing your brain into accepting that what’s done is done. If something done calls for you to make amends, make amends. Then move on to the next minute.

Now that you’ve had your butt kicked, and you’ve pinched yourself, you have likely increased the odds of being able to focus more on the present. That’s a major step toward maximum emotional stability and good health.

The sign on my wall (since 1970!) says:

“Now is the

only time.

the past

is over;

the future

not yet here.”

And consider that the future, by the way, may never arrive . . . so the only healthy place for your brain and your body and your emotions —AND YOUR BUSINESS AND CAREER GROWTH— is right here, on each of these words, as you read them, here and now, in the present moment as much of the time as is possible each day because all the rest is fantasyland, and. . . because:

“Yesterday Is Over.”

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

Higher impact. Lower costs.

——————-

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

Go for your goals, thanks for your visit, God Bless You!

“Thank you for your

Cold Calls Jolt Business

With FEARLESS! Reality

Love it or hate it, there is nothing like a bunch of cold sales calls to snap a ho-hum corporate or entrepreneurial business attitude into a realm of FEARLESS! reality. (Sorry, had to sneak in the link to my big project!)

It’s the place where the proverbial rubber meets the road, but typically gets dismissed as trivial, or “jittery” or time-wasting (“Other people are paid to do that!”). It’s oh so easy to wave it away with comments like: “I already did that stuff” or “I’m way past that” or “who needs it?”… or some other lame excuse.

But truth is that –something like a cold shower– it’s a great wake-up experience, a terrific way to recharge batteries, and it will definitely flash you back to what’s really important in business: HOW you communicate with a prospect to turn her or him into a grateful and loyal customer.

This does not happen with marketing automation.

It does not happen via email.

It does not happen on Twitter or LinkedIn or Facebook.

It doesn’t happen with clever advertising or cataclysmic branding lines.

Those may all be contributing factors that lead up to a purchase decision, but –in the end– it happens in the flesh, in person or on the phone, or through a referral from someone who’s been sold in person or on the phone. It often occurs when an online-generated order is easily and pleasantly placed — or bungled. A prospect becomes a customer when perceived value of your product or service rises to the surface.

If your marketing program is not delivering the sales you believe are possible, lead your support team to the sidewalk and make cold calls. Have them all make cold calls. Be reminded of the importance of listening 80% of the time, of addressing energy to the prospect’s concerns, issues, questions, observations, not yours. If your team needs some refresher points or sales training first, do it. Or bite the bullet and recruit some outside help. A fun/challenge attitude helps!

Then talk about the process, about what happened with each encounter, about the time and effort involved, and start to adjust your sales program and approach to reflect what you and your team learn from the experience . . . 2-3 days of pounding the pavement will be well spent, even as it may seem wasteful.

The best time to put this exercise to work is when things aren’t working the way you think they should. Can you and your team spare the time? The next question is the answer: Can you spare the lost or inadequate sales? Remember when you strip away all the decorations, the reason for being in business is to engage and nurture and please your customers. And even when this consciousness is present, there’s a tendency to overlook street smarts learning.

Cold sales call selling is like an electric jolt reminder. And if you stay open-minded and pay hard attention to what you and others learn from the process, your business will grow.

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

Higher impact. Lower costs.

——————-

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

Go for your goals, thanks for your visit, God Bless You!

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

10 Steps, 7 Ways, 6 Things, 3 Mistakes

STOP POSTING NUMBERS OF

WHAT I NEED TO SUCCEED!

I mean, there ARE just so many hours in the day and I have to sleep SOME time. And it makes me get insomnia-crazed having to use my calculator app to find out the hocus-pocus number of items I need to deal with, places I have to go, people I need to trample over in order to achieve business career nirvana.

Is there no one left out there in the blogosphere or social media world who can simply write about sharing valuable experiences without reminding me how bad I was in high school math, or trying to impress me (or themselves) that they are all-knowing?

“Seriously?” you ask. Hey! You doubt me? Just look around: 6 of these, 7 of those, THE 3 critical . . .

You need not even stray away from LinkedIn. Click around. You’ll find plenty of self-appointed business guru posts that will quickly lead you stumbling into record numbers of things you must do, think, say, not do, not think, not say in order to:
• Be Successful,
• Be A Great Boss,
• Be A Great Employee,
• Give Great Service,
• Make Great Sales,
• Win Great Promotions,
• Stop Smoking,
• Lose More Weight,
• Gain More Weight,
• Lift More Weights
• Stop Drinking,
• Stop Drooling,

• . . . Or, Lose Out On,
• Or, Become A Failure.

Starting to remind you of Junk E-Mail?

Ever since 7/11, and the 7 Habits stuff, and 7th heaven, and the 7 Dwarfs, and the 7 senses (counting “non” and “common”), Americans have become hopelessly obsessed with the magic of “7”—and now, we pounce on any/all small numbers of points one needs to heed in order to achieve virtually anything.

I mean, when did you last read an article headline about the 14,763 steps to effective leadership? Or the 1,529 changes you can make today to get promoted tomorrow?

Oh, and, of course, these are inevitably accompanied by side effects warnings that include loss of life and limb and that if you die from it, you can join a class-action suit with the Legal Beagle Law Firm. Aaaack!

Okay, you’re still stuck on small numbers of things to do to be a superstar? Well, here they are. They work for EVERY one regardless of age or physical condition. And they’re Free. Enjoy:

1. BREATHE more deeply, more often every day!

2. Remember that everything you do or say is a CHOICE or the result of a choice!

3. Be FEARLESS in your attitude, but keep your mind focused in the “here and now” as much of the time as possible, because the past is over and can’t be changed, and the future has not yet come, and may never. Expectations breed disappointment.

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US               931.854.0474

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

You’re 40-something and trapped!

You’re 40-something and you’re sandwiched in between aging parents and young children. trying to build a career. Even the weekends are starting to suck. The family dog (or cat) is beginning to be your BFF.

What’s next? STEP BACK, that’s what! Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing (except driving, holding a baby, operating heavy equipment, or standing with your back to a cliff or stairway), take one physical step back away from the gum-biting clamor, pinch yourself in the butt and take three deep breaths. Just three, but don’t fake it. Three. Deep. Now. Before reading more. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Now pay attention to this: No job is worth losing because your mind gets too busy racing in and out of your neighbors’, relatives’, co-workers’ issues and shortsightedness. They don’t understand your upsets. They never have. They’re not inside YOUR brain and you don’t need them to survive your circumstances. You need your SELF to make adjustments for your SELF — NOT to please others!

You need to “rattle your own cage” and that doesn’t mean a zoo or prison vacation. It means doing some honest soul-searching about who you really are, what you really want out of life, and how you think you’re going to get there.

Rule One: Take Charge of Your SELF! Only YOU know what YOU need to do. Listening to what others have to say is a good thing. Doing what others think you should do is not. So listen all you want, but ACT on your own behalf.

For every idea you have (after the three deep breaths!) about how you need to proceed with your “sandwiched” life, write it down: each idea at the top of its own page (yes, with a real pen or pencil on real paper . . . trust me you’ll get more authentic results than keyboarding it!). Put a minus- sign at the top left and a plus+ sign at the top right, with a vertical line top to bottom down the middle of the page.

Then identify the negative and positive points related to each idea in the appropriate column. Step back again. Yes, and three more deep ones. Then analyze your ideas based on comparing the two columns and on what you honestly feel inside your gut about each point, and each idea.

Maybe you’ve been being too patient and are filled with anxiety? Maybe you’ve not been patient enough and are filled with annoyance or are simply adding fuel to the fire? Where’s the right balance?

What are you doing right this minute to achieve the right balance? You think this is an easy exercise? It’s not if you’re doing it honestly. But is it worth it? Of course it is. YOU’re worth it, aren’t you? Then work at it.

Here’s a Broadway-bound musical: www.FearlessTheMusical.com filled with love, anxiety, humor, annoyance, and resolution to inspire. It’s all about finding balance — Try some of the “song previews” and remember: You’re never alone when you seek balance. Sing. Dance. Hum. Breathe. Think. And along the way, enjoy–and TRUST your SELF! Be FEARLESS! You’ll get through it. You can do it!

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US   931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!