Archive for the 'Contacts/Networking' Category

Feb 05 2012

TEST Where You’re Going

Published by Hal Alpiar under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Contacts/Networking,Corporate Management,Decision Making,Delegation,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Feedback,Goals,Happiness,Innovation,Leadership,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Objectives,Objectives/Strategies/Tactics,Observations,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Strategies,Tactics,Teamwork

Get it in writing . . . 

The Hardest Business Task!

       

Yes, test your objectives. Yes, test your strategies. Yes, test your tactics. And, yes –first and foremost– test your concepts. It’s the only sensible way (before spending money on ideas that might sound great, but that fail to produce), to make sure your pursuits are solidly grounded and integrally connected. 

~~~~~~~

What’s the hardest task in business? It’s really not hiring and firing, or funding, or maintaining operations, or making sales (though HR, finance, operations, and sales people may all want to lay claim to having the most difficult jobs). The hardest task is getting it in writing. Huh”? What’s “it”? And what’s so hard about writing? Writing what? 

I believe the most challenging of all business tasks is getting your direction and contingency plans straight. (Considering widely-published SBA findings that over 90% of business failures are attributable to “poor management,” knowing where you’re going is certainly Job One for most entrepreneurs.)

Writing your objectives clearly, simply, specifically, realistically, flexibly –and with a due date attached– has proven time and again to make the difference between revenues and profits, between success and SUCCESS!

                                            

The more principals, partners, investors, advisors, managers involved, the harder the task. It becomes exponentially difficult because –to have any value– everyone involved must agree at least somewhat with every word. In other words, agreeing on a precise target is sometimes the most trying of all challenges.

                                                                 

Is it (your target objective) the same as your Mission or Vision Statement?

No, but it probably needs to directly reflect both.

                                                                

Whatever the objectives (or goals) are that you verbalize for yourself or your business, they need to be:

A) Missions in and of themselves, and they must fit conceptually under the umbrella of your own or your company’s overall Mission Statement.

[If your objective(s) fail to measure up to your overall Mission Statement, or don't quite fit under its umbrella, re-examine where you're headed with things. You may need to switch gears, or direction, or timing, or desired results.]

B) Following the path of your Vision Statement.

[If this isn't happening, redirect your focus or re-visit your Vision Statement to consider some adjustments.]

Can you make changes and still be “on-target” with your pursuits? Absolutely! Remember that flexibility (together with realistic, specific, and due-dated) is one of the key criteria for effective goal-setting. If you’re not reaching the goal you defined, be flexible enough to redefine it, or change the tactics you’re using.

                                                               

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Jan 12 2012

The Small Business Career Trap

Published by Hal Alpiar under "Here & Now" Focus,Age & Aging,Anger/Conflict,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Contacts/Networking,Corporate Management,Creative Thinking,Decision Making,Economy,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Happiness,Innovation,Leadership,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Objectives,Observations,Overcoming Objections,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Tactics

You got ideas?

                           

You’re ready to trade in

                              

that corporate career?

                          

Don’t be too quick!

 

 

Created by cover-your-butt, tunnel-visioned corporate types, who are busy going nowhere, the “Small Business Career Trap” puts a stranglehold on reentry to the corporate world once someone has “defected to small business life. It’s like deportation. Change your mind? Oh, no, that’s not allowed. Make a come-back? No way, José! 

“Tunnel-visioned”? Well, sure– because the assumption behind that label is that you can play either football OR baseball, not both, and that once you switch sports, you can nevermore capture the credibility in the field of expertise you left behind. Ridiculous? Of course. Michael Jordan isn’t the only athlete to master multiple sports.

The kind of corporate mentality narrowmindedness that fosters (and nurtures) this kind of thinking discounts the wealth of unique contributions a small business-experienced individual can potentially make to stimulate the prevailing lethargy of so much corporate life.

And paradoxical, don’t you think, that the attitude strikes at the heart of the very same types of entrepreneurial contributions that no doubt accounted for launching every corporate entity to begin with?

As long as the political climbers at corporate giants refuse to honor the value of small business experience, and continue to fail to take advantage of the opportunities to integrate and cultivate more entrepreneurial spirit in their organizations, there is little hope that the big boys of business will ever favorably affect the economy.

And adventuresome entrepreneurial wannabe’s need to accept the reality

that big business-to-small business career moves probably have no return route.

                                             

This can be pretty disconcerting whenever you (the traitor) reach the point in small business (and you surely will) of realizing you are indeed smarter and more talented than corporate counterparts, MBAs and all.

It will become transparently clear that you could bring greater success to corporate productivity and profitability pursuits than people presently responsible for achieving these goals. Nonetheless, if no one will open the door, your only choice may be to return home and keep looking (Good Luck!) or break the door down.

Not many welcome mats are

laid out for forceable entry.

Will this ever change?

Short of revolution, it’s not likely.

                                                   

If you should have any doubts, by the way, that corporate mindsets are so deeply entrenched in fears of recruiting and hiring entrepreneurial thinkers and doers, just scroll through some corporate help wanted ads. Find just one that addresses small business expertise, a sense of urgency, and the ability to respond and adjust. Good luck again!

                                                                    

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Jan 05 2012

“DOCTOR BUSINESS”© (2 of 2)

Published by Hal Alpiar under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Contacts/Networking,Decision Making,Delegation,Empathy,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Feedback,Goals,Good Health,INTERNET Marketing,Leadership,Lifestyle,Listening,Management,Marketing,Media,Mental Health,Motivation,Observations,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Public Relations,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Social Media,Strategic Planning,Tactics,Trust

How To Boost Healthcare

 

Practice Volume NOW!

 

Hi Doc! You’re back? [See yesterday's post for Part I] Well, that’s great because THIS post will get you started with a practice volume boost agenda that you will never get from a medicine world insider

~~~~~~~

 

“Marketing” is a reflection of society. YOUR marketing is a reflection of you and what you are really all about. So it’s important to keep in mind that marketing is both external (websites, signage, traditional and social media, direct mail and email, promotions, PR events and news releases, and internal. 

Internal is the most effective. I refer to it as “Quiet” marketing. It includes such things as the appearance of your personal self–neat, clean clothes and a scrubbed look, your office and waiting room, your equipment and staff, and the manner in which communications are conducted . . . on paper, online, in person, and on the phone.  

This means active listening, clear simple speech, using examples and diagrams, soliciting questions and feedback, and applying this attentiveness to not just patients, patient families, staff, and associates — but to other doctors and nurses, lawyers, pharmacists, insurance providers, suppliers, detail reps, even cleaning and delivery people.

Quiet marketing also includes paying careful attention to the frequency and quality of communications with those in your networking resource and referral systems, and to your SELF. Why? Because Quiet marketing success at any level has most of all to do with how you conduct and represent yourself to others! 

This translates to how you walk, talk, sit, stand, listen, touch, gesture, and treat everyone around you every day.

These actions add up to the statement you make about who you really are, and why you are trustworthy of the confidences and care of others.

Remember: someone is watching your every move, and noting your every word.

                                                          

Effective marketing also requires consistency in looks, words, color schemes, traditional and online media use, branding theme identification. [You don;t need an "I'm lovin' it" slogan or any less-than-professional statement, but some appropriate identity that patients can relate to is essential]

Your marketing messages surface through observations of your interior and exterior office decor, your business and appointment reminder cards, stationery and uniforms, promotional literature, educational talk materials, ads, signs, merchandising items, online content and access to you, newsletters, and news releases.

All of what you do and the message you seek to project must be absolutely and strongly reinforced by your staff in everything they do and say with every office contact, every minute, every day. No exceptions.

Professionalism in the eyes of a patient means more than training and skills. It includes appearances as noted and–most critically– professional empathy and reassurance skills . . . because every patient and potential patient (regardless of pretenses) is literally filled with fear. Fear is very real to 99% of the population.

Perceptions are facts.

What we perceive is what we believe.

And Perceptions + Performance = Referrals.
 

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Dec 08 2011

‘Tis The Season for this and this and th. . .

Published by Hal Alpiar under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Community Support,Contacts/Networking,Corporate Management,Customer Service (CRM),Decision Making,Delegation,Economy,Empathy,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family,Family Business,Good Health,Leadership,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Listening,Management,Mental Health,Motivation,Observations,Overcoming Objections,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Special People/Special Occasions,Strategies,Stress Management,Tactics,Teamwork,Trust

BAH! HUMBUG!

                                 

‘Tis the season to be spiteful, act angry, hide from creditors, put off paying bills, smile fake smiles, eat more sweets and fattening foods, drink more booze and soda and energy drinks, smoke more cigars, spit on the floor, sleep late, and curse the relatives who give you cheap gifts. 

 

Sound familiar? Remind you of someone you know? You might consider printing this or this or this out and mysteriously leaving an anonymous copy (or scissored excerpts) on that person’s desk, carseat, windshield, or stuffed into her or his coatpocket. 

Having come from poverty– I can genuinely appreciate the humbugness of truly destitute people at this time of year, as well as the humbugness of struggling business owners and managers who spend their days battling the threats and destruction of our nation’s economic quagmire, and their nights worrying about it. 

And I feel deeply saddened by anyone who continually chooses to not rise to the occasion of Christmas Season joyfulness — even non-Christians — because it is a season of great joy for all people of any faith, but as so many of us have learned about the leading horse to water proverb, none of us can make someone else’s choices.

Even with all good intention and wisdom, we really can’t reach into another human brain and push buttons and adjust frequencies and turn dials that will produce a happy, healthy, positive attitudes. All we can do is try our best to create positive supporting environments for those who choose misery, and keep the door open to them.

I say these things now, because I’ve been all over this issue of wasting life and opportunities through assorted career roles — from college teaching/counseling to management training/consulting/counseling to business and professional practice development consulting/counseling, to family and group counseling– and this period, now through February, has traditionally brought these dreaded negative behaviors for many to the surface.

Probably the single most useful tool for the vast majority of those I’ve worked with over the years is the one post that I keyword to most often on this blog, and recommend most to those I find in times of need is THIS. Literally thousands have raved to me about its value. It is highlighted in three of my books. It works. 

What else works? Prayer and gratefulness.

God Bless You. Thank you for your visit.

Please return soon.

 

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Dec 05 2011

Mr. Obama: You’re Wrong!

Published by Hal Alpiar under "Here & Now" Focus,Anger/Conflict,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Community Support,Contacts/Networking,Decision Making,Economy,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Feedback,Leadership,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Observations,Overcoming Objections,People Management,Personal Growth,Politics/Gov't,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Strategies,Tactics,Trust

Still stuck in your 4-week-old delusion? You said: “America has lost ambition and imagination.” Remember? You prodded businesses to “Do the things that built the Golden Gate Bridge and the Hoover Dam. Unleash all the potential in this country!”  

 

Well, you’re wrong,

 

Mr.Obama. The only thing

 

America has lost is

 

leadership. And the only

 

thing lacking in America’s

 

30 million small businesses

 

is trust in YOU!

 

 

I hear every single day from clients, associates, business friends and neighbors that YOU, Mr. Obama, are what’s wrong with this country! You have continuously chosen to ignore small business in America, when even those who surround you admit that only small business can reverse your dying economy!

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that job creation is what will turn us around, and it shouldn’t take much more than the feeble skills of a community organizer to see that new job creation comes exclusively from small business. That means genuine (real and guaranteed) innovation and job creation tax incentives for small business.

It is YOU, Mr. Obama, who have seen fit to wipe out the financial and free choice futures of our children and grandchildren with your foolish and misguided healthcare plan. It is YOU who have single-handedly dismantled our peace through preparedness military, rendering us more vulnerable to terrorism than ever before in history.

Not only that, you have literally made America the laughing stock of other emerging nations on the planet. Your programs for social reform have created nothing but dependencies and joblessness. You have made our economic future a bleak one. Your political priorities have always taken a front seat to our nation’s well-being.

Oh, and if you’re wondering where “30 million” came from when your administration counts only 20 million? Talk with your statiticians who –obviously following your lead– chose to simply not legitimize sole work-at-home proprietors as “real” small businesses. I, for one, am one, and make a living at it, and pay taxes for the privilege.

You have misled this country and the small business universe that makes it go. You appear to all the world as a clown, “The Emperor With No Clothes,” who chooses self-indulgence and self-aggrandizement over the needs of those who elected him. You have done injustice to those who trusted and believed in your empty promises.

Small business owners are sickened by your failures, but we DO have a choice: November 6, 2012! 

                                                    

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Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Dec 01 2011

BUSINESS STARTUP

Published by Hal Alpiar under "Here & Now" Focus,Anger/Conflict,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Community Support,Contacts/Networking,Creative Thinking,Customer Service (CRM),Decision Making,Delegation,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Goals,INTERNET Marketing,Leadership,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Management,Marketing,Motivation,Objectives,Observations,Overcoming Objections,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Productivity,Professional Practices,Public Relations,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Retailing,Sales,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Stress Management,Tactics,Time Management,Trust,Writing

Startup Fever

 

Channeling startup energy wisely is certainly a paradox. In fact, channeling startup energy wisely is an almost impossible task because the heat of the moment tends to override the rationality of the brain. Emotions, in other words, pack more punch than objectivity and a measured approach. Hmmm, remind you of dating days?

Isn’t this also the reason successful marketers always direct their sales messages to trigger emotional buying motives instead of rational ones? Benefits, not features. I mean, do you really care what’s under the hood if it gets you where you want to go, doesn’t break down, is snazzy, and you think it makes you look good driving it?

If a car turns the neighbor’s head every time you pull into the driveway, and jumpstarts your brain into dreaming of being a big-name, cross-country race car driver just as a result of you buckling up and adjusting the mirrors, you buy it. You may offer 101 other more rational, logical reasons, but that’s just a justification cover!

When an entrepreneur starts a business, she 0r he is typically filled with emotions that seem to run at cross-purposes. Money. Where will it come from? Where will I get the money I need? Will it be enough? Workspace. How much do I need now? Later? Where? What’s the deal? Insurance? Yikes! Equipment? Furnishings? Accountant? Lawyer? Advisory board? Employees? Benefit plans? Strategic plans? Business Plans? Hours of operation? Website? Pricing? What? Huh? Packaging? Promotions? PR? Advertising? Sales? Phone System? Reception? Presentations? Partners? Investors? Lenders? Logo?Suppliers? Branding?Memberships? Networks? Jeeze! Maintenance? Distribution? Referrers? Community? Titles? Whoa! Signage? Name? Mission statement? Elevator speech? Professional or industry relations? Goals? Target markets? And on and on . . .

                                         

According to the most recent SBA studies I could muster (the WH doesn’t want to publicize new small business data), 9 out of every 11 new businesses reportedly fail within the first 10 years, and it takes an average of 6 years just to break even financially. Pretty miserable odds for all that emotional and financial expenditure.

But –considering that your idea and your support systems are great, and the alternative is a secure go-nowhere job with the braindead government or some big corporate shabang position with nothing but ladders to climb before you sleep– entrepreneuring at least gives you adventure, challenge, opportunity, freedom, and fun.

So the answer IS: Channel all that explosive chain-reaction energy. (Try increased attention to deep breathing, yoga, exercise, power walks, eating and sleeping right.) Channel the energy into filling the gaps of business needs that you lack, so you can concentrate on what you like and do best, which will maximize your performance.

You’re lousy at writing or marketing or managing others? Hire someone with a proven track-record to step in and free you up. Sometimes just one or two people can fill all three of these for-example roles. See where and how to consolidate tasks and functions that you can pass along. (But remember responsibility cannot be delegated.)      

The point is that startup entrepreneurs need to jet down and focus their total energy on the “here-and-now” of what they’re doing: find the needs, determine the costs, fill the needs. Shop around for services. Be a detective. Line up at least 10 times the amount of money you think you’ll need. 10? Yup! Guaranteed! 

 

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Nov 28 2011

CREATIVITY WAKE-UP CALL!

Published by Hal Alpiar under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Contacts/Networking,Creative Thinking,Decision Making,Economy,Entrepreneurship,Family Business,Gestalt Therapy,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Literary Pursuits,Motivation,Observations,Personal Growth,Poems/Essays,Problems=Opportunities,Productivity,Professional Practices,Public Relations,Reality,Reputation,Retailing,Sales,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategies,Tactics,Time Management,Trust,Writing

Are you taking your music to the grave?!

                                                                           

 STOP HIDING

                                   

 YOUR ACORNS!

 

You are not a squirrel. Stop saving up your best-effort production, creation, plan or idea for “the right moment!” With a deader-than-doornail economy getting deader every day, there’s no time like the present to get that great creative genius product of yours out of the closet or back of the drawer, dust it off, and make it work!

To make it work, first means freeing it from the imaginary chains you’ve wrapped around it and the hiding place in your home, office, truck, notebook, recording, harddrive, or your mind. It will never achieve what you hoped for it if it’s locked away. Put it into your daily work schedule. Treat it as if it was a key client or customer project.

TRUST YOURSELF. Give yourself a chance. What’s the worst thing could happen? It gets rejected? You think maybe there’s only one person or audience for your special creation? The odds for fame and appreciation will be better after you’re dead? Regardless of your skills and calling, that’s not likely. And it’s a choice.  

Try to look at it this way: Posthumous success is failure to achieve what’s been rightfully earned in life during that lifetime. Most of us agree that of course the dead are to be honored in some fashion. Military courage and sacrifice certainly count the most. I’m not attempting to strip that love, respect, gratitude and reverence away.

The point is that posthumous recognition doesn’t accomplish anything. It fails to provide you the incentive and opportunity to do even greater work because it affords you a springboard for awakening other talents of yours and for inspiring others who will enjoy and benefit by and emulate your efforts.

Oh, and perhaps it’s blatantly obvious, but I believe it’s still worth mentioning just to raise consciousness: we only go around once in this life. We get only one “here and now” every passing minute. Do you truly want to take your music to your grave? It’s a choice to never make a choice.

An action step you take today can pay you back tomorrow. Action you never take hasn’t even a chance of being worthy of your talents and authenticity. And action you keep making excuses not to take is actually a step backwards. If you’re not a squirrel, stop hiding your treasures. If you have “yes, buts” — contact me. If you think you’re losing your mind, try this! And you still have doubts, here’s one of my favorite quotes to pin on your wall:

 

Remember time waits for no one.

Yesterday is history.

Tomorrow is mystery.

Today is a gift.

That’s why it’s called the present.”

– B. Olatunji     

                                                             

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Nov 21 2011

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES…”Z”

Published by Hal Alpiar under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Community Support,Contacts/Networking,Customer Service (CRM),Decision Making,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Feedback,Leadership,Lifestyle,Listening,Management,Motivation,Observations,People Management,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Productivity,Professional Practices,Public Relations,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Retailing,Sales,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Strategies,Tactics,Teamwork,Trust

The final subject of this, the world’s first BIZ ALPHABET Series of blog posts! (Check out “A” – “Y”)

                                            

“Z”…ZEST

                              

ZEST (not the soap) refers to you and your business . . . ardor, élan, gusto, joie de vivre, lust, oomph, passion, pep, pizzazz, tang, vitality, energy, zing,  zoom, zip,  zap . . . either you’ve got it or you don’t.

If you’ve got it, you can make it better. Start here now. If you don’t have it, you can get it ignited here, now. Free. No strings attached. No gimmicks! Just you and your business, and me.

~~~~~~~ 

Sounds good, you say, but who cares? Uh, your customers, your employees, your suppliers, your investors, your lenders, your community . . . and your family. Does that work for an answer? This is not just another lecture on motivation. It’s about operating your business with a competitive edge.

Let’s get to it: When did you last ask a few customers why they do business with you instead of with __________ (fill in the name of a leading competitor)? Oh, you did a survey? Well, that’s great, but there’s nothin’ like the real thing, Baby, goes the old song, and there’s nothing like straight eyeball-to-eyeball answers.

Whatever you hear back, by the way, accept and be appreciative. Do not criticize. Do not “Yes, But.” Do not argue or dismiss. There’s a reason for everything. Take it in. Write it down. Smile and say thank you. Go off and think. Odds are pretty good that the answers you’ll get will have something to do with your attitude and approach.

In other words, HOW you deal with customers, employees, and others around you is what determines more than anything else why your customers are your customers. And it’s that reputation that attracts other customers. So, if these assumption about how you deal with others is even just half right, you already have a competitive edge.

It may simply need –like the holiday carving knife– a little sharpening. Start by asking yourself if you and/or someone else who works with you have been partly or largely responsible for positive customer feedback. Do you appropriately reward that behavior when it comes from others. Rewarding positives breeds more positives.

If you get feedback that attributes your business strength to other factors –price, quality, convenience, etc.–you need to giddy-yap over to your customer service counter/person/policy/strategy/whatever, to fix it or make it better.

Why? Because in this lousy economy, it is frankly not a good sign that anything other than your outstanding service should be the #1 factor quoted by customers. You cannot any longer compete on price or packaging or quality or convenience or sustainability. Anyone with the know-how and gumption can beat you on those points. 

But no one else can be you!

                                                                       

No one else can treat people exactly the same as you, and therein lies your single greatest and unique competitive edge — it’s the differential that you, exclusively, can offer. Have you ever by-passed others and gone out of your way to deal with a particular business because you relate better to the source? Of course you have.

We all seek individuals and entities we feel offer more integrity, more authenticity, a better reputation, provide more extras. So your customers are different? What’s keeping you from adjusting, over-hauling, boosting or perking up your business approaches and attitude NOW? Aren’t roadblocks, after all, a matter of choice?

Choose more of what works. Put a little spice in your spirit! And remember what you put out and how you come across – your spirit — is yours alone. No one else has or can use your strengths. 

                                                       

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Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Nov 17 2011

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES… “X”

Published by Hal Alpiar under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Change,Choosing Behavior,Communication,Contacts/Networking,Creative Thinking,Decision Making,Entrepreneurship,Experience,Family Business,Feedback,Leadership,Lifestyle,Listening,Management,Marketing,Motivation,Observations,Overcoming Objections,Personal Growth,Problems=Opportunities,Professional Practices,Reality,Relationships,Reputation,Retailing,Sales,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Trust

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

“X”…XYLOPHONE

 

If corporate types might be best equated with a musical instrument, it would likely be a bass drum. Big companies march to a loud, dull, steady, monotonous, unimaginative beat. They thrive on maintaining status quo.

And if government employees might be best equated with a musical instrument, it would probably be a kazoo because it requires no skill to use, except to be able to hum (and even politicians can hum!).

If you accept all or part of the above instrument assignments and accompanying rationales, then entrepreneurs might best be equated with a Xylophone. Like the other two match-ups, this instrument is self-energized, but unlike the other two, the xylophone requires both: musical skill and a sense of rhythm.

[Besides, there's hardly an army of small business related words that start with the letter "X." In fact, my dictionary displays only a few dozen words of any kind that start with the letter "X," and so, as a matter of practicality --and my need to deliver what I started--  "Xylophone" seemed better than "x-ray"!]

The music that a xylophone actually does produce, by the way, is best characterized as bright, lively, cheerful, and allowing for great diversity, imagination, and –to be able to produce any music– self-discipline.

So there you are. If you’re the entrepreneurial spirit personified, Xylophones are in! If you’re not a true DNA entrepreneur, go hum or beat a drum. 

When did you last step back from what you’re doing, step back from your business, and what your business is doing? When did you last –like a doctor–perform a diagnostic workup on your SELF? On your business? Do you really want to know more about what others think? You should!

It is, after all, what others think –your reputation– that ultimately confirms your message, and determines your sales success. 

First of all, diagnostics always start with a patient history. So make a bullet list of high spots that you and your business have experienced in your lives. (Limit yourself to 3 minutes for each list.)

Next, start testing that history against things you know… abstract categories work best: musical instruments, animals, plants, sports, birds, song titles, cities… ask others what  (animal, plant, instrument, sport, etc.) they think you and/or your business are most closely associated with in their minds: a lion, fox, snake, turkey, hog, poison ivy, thorny vines, a mighty oak, MMA, hockey, fly fishing?

The most useful input on these assessments –IF you can avoid rebuttal, and just quietly take in and process what you learn– comes from asking others how they would equate and match you and your business. (Remember to sincerely thank each person you ask, for each input, even when it may seem insulting to you!)

Now. take what you get, and sift through what you think are the meanings attached to each. Decide what fits best, and what directions that the equations others draw may best send you.

Then go!

Play your Xylophone!  

                                                  

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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!

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Nov 16 2011

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES…”W”

Published by Hal Alpiar under "Here & Now" Focus,Attitude,Best Practices,BRANDING,Business Growth,Business Life,Choosing Behavior,Contacts/Networking,Decision Making,Goals,Innovation,Leadership,Life Plans,Lifestyle,Management,Motivation,Objectives,Objectives/Strategies/Tactics,Observations,Personal Growth,Productivity,Professional Practices,Reality,Sales,Sales Process,Self-Confidence,Self-Esteem,Small Business,Strategic Planning,Tactics,Writing

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

“W”…WISHING

 

WISHING may make it so in Peter Pan or The Wizard of Oz, but it’s a death knell in small business. Like hoping and dreaming, wishing accomplishes nothing. As entrepreneurs, the sooner we face reality and anchor ourselves in the present here-and-now moment for as many passing moments of every day as we possibly can, the sooner we will achieve success.

                             

~~~~~~~

No need to take my word for this sweeping rhetoric. It’s been proven endlessly over the ages by every successful, big-name entrepreneur who ever lived — from Thomas Edison, Henry Ford,  and Dale Carnegie, to Bill Gates, Steven Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, and Mary Kay Ashe.

So if this is such common knowledge, why doesn’t every entrepreneur succeed? Part of the answer is in the title of this blog post. We are taught from childhood to wish upon a star, that if we find a container on the beach and rub it, a genie will appear and grant three wishes, and so on.

Why do I bring this to our attention now, as we reach the end of the alphabet? Because besides that tonight, we landed on “W,” we are also on the cusp of the greatest annual “wishfest” in American history.

The whole thing starts the day after Thanksgiving and typically continues until Christmas when the dried out and “wishable” Thanksgiving turkey wishbone is ready to be or has already been snapped, and is likely to be replaced by a fresh new Christmas turkey wishbone.

Besides every greeting card filled with best holiday wishes, the season itself brings with it even more wishing as we see lottery ticket sales zoom and letters to Santa abound with children’s wishlists. And then, there’s New Year’s resolutions and wishes… success, success, success!

We certainly have ample opportunities for legitimatized, formal, and official wishing, but… alas!… WE are entrepreneurs, and we know far better than any corporate counterparts or government flunkies that wishing is a colossal waste of time and energy… not praying, mind you, but wishes! We all need all the prayer we can muster.

But that doesn’t mean that we can’t have goals. In fact, if we are truly to succeed, goal-setting needs to be an essential and ongoing activity. And real goals –as opposed to fantasized missions– must adhere to four essential criteria, or they are not real goals, and not likely even achievable.

Ongoing? Yes, since –as you may have just discovered by clicking on the last word link above– one of the four essential goal-setting criteria is flexibility, the idea of ongoing goal-setting should be apparent. They need to be adjusted, re-adjusted, and upgraded to reflect the following truism:

Time and events cause changes in

  purpose, passion, and resources. 

(Aspiring political candidates should also take note!)

                                                                                    

Do you write down your goals and write down your revised and upgraded goals and carry a copy of the latest version on your person every day? Do you go to sleep and wake up with them in your face every day? Do you keep them private except from others who:

  • You trust
  • You know have their own goals
  • You know will provide you with positive, reinforcing, encouragement on your pursuits

Stop wishing and start taking positive steps to make things happen. Begin in reality with written goals.

                                       

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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!

No responses yet

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