Nov 03 2010

Business in “The Whiplash Age”

Are you and your business

                                       

MARCHING or STUMBLING?

 

You’re a business owner or manager, right? So you rarely know if you’re coming or going, never mind marching or stumbling . . . or jogging for endurance . . . or, for that matter, running scared.

Probability is that these are merely indicators of the degree of rigidity and/or speed you move according to how wildly your entrepreneurial fires are burning. Hmmm, now there’s a thought-provoker.

And it doesn’t help much that we’re living in “The Whiplash Age.” I feel my neck snap back in astonishment almost every day as I hop, skip, and jump through the process of discovering emerging technology methods and products . . . and bamboozling ideas! 

Considering we’ve gone from blackboards and filmstrip projectors to greenboards and overhead projectors to whiteboards and 16mm film projectors to newsprint pads on tripods, video projectors, PowerPoint, virtual meetings, virtual offices, txtmsgs, Twitter, Facebook, and handheld electronic devices (not even to mention the audio metamorphosis of reel-to-reel, then 78rpm/33 1/3 rpm/45rpm vinyl records, to 8-track cassettes, pocket and mini-cassettes, CDs, DVDs, boomboxes, sattelite radio (whew!) . . . and from crank-ups to cell phones . . . WHERE are we going next?

                                                                                

Of course you should answer this for yourself, but you may get some ideas here: http://bit.ly/bDOOVf

What are you doing to keep pace? Is your business keeping up with your market? With your industry or profession? 

Perhaps you’re ahead of yourself? http://bit.ly/bWXxIq

Are you over-spending? Under-spending? Over-communicating? Under-communicating? Are you being taken advantage of by advertising agencies that claim to be Internet experts?

How about Internet specialists who claim to be marketing experts? Just because someone anoints him or herself as an SEO or web design guru, doesn’t automatically qualify as expertise in marketing.

In fact, odds are excellent that Internet savvy techies know next to nothing about marketing.

ASK.

Ask what any of these people know about the psychology of selling, about verbal and nonverbal communication, about how to deal with traditional media rate cards and package structures, about branding.

Ask when they last wrote a branding themeline that established a clear market leadership position.

Ask for examples of major sales boosts that could be attributable to their work.

Ask for specifics.

                                                                                       

If you can’t get satisfactory answers to these questions, you may have the world’s greatest Internet expert in front of you, but don’t pay a penny for marketing services that do not clearly trigger your market’s emotional buying motives. http://bit.ly/bwkfdr

Look at it this way: If I haven’t a clue about what makes your customer tick, then I also have no clue about how to attract prospects for you, or create interest in what you have to sell, or know how to stimulate desire for your services or wares.

And if I can’t do those things, I certainly have no idea of how to bring about action or how to prompt and promote feelings of exceptional customer satisfaction. http://bit.ly/bMDGcy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.
 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 
Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Sep 09 2010

Doing Business On Twitter Or Facebook?

She Tweets Me,

                                      

She Tweets Me Not,

                             

She Tweets Me,

                            

She Tweets Me Not,

                                

She Tweets Me…

 

Howcum all we 30 million small business owners only ever hear about using Twitter and Facebook comes to us in useless abstract terms?

Do we really care about all the bundles of tech apps and clever little increase-your-overnight-income opps? And how credible are the sources that bombard us with such meaningless, time-wasting minutia? Is there really a business owner anywhere on the planet who actually buys into the daily onslaught of claims being foisted on us by self-anointed “social media experts”?

Surely those online businesses that promise 27,943 new followers a day or 16 million new fans a year can’t be serious? Why is it that mixed in with these thousands of clowns, there is only a handful of resources that truly teach the only information that’s really needed in order to be successful with social media marketing messages?

When was the last time you saw a

good run-down of things to avoid,

when trying to market your business

on Twitter and Facebook?

What’s acceptable as social media business content is far different than what you might put on your website, or in an email blast or a news release or a traditional ad or commercial. More importantly, it is far different than the “socializing” climate that most Twitter and Facebook users indulge in.

I have seen countless scores of respectable businesses stumbling through trying to manage Facebook content (text/words/copy/photos) that is tasteless, vulgar, trashy and often filled with curse words posted by disgruntled employees or vendors, and even by young adult children of the business owner or manager.

Marketing your business on Facebook requires persistent (often constant) ongoing attention and maintenance to ensure that others who don’t share your sense of business decorum are not invading your site with negative associations while you sleep.

Business users of Twitter are not as subjected to outside influence because Twitter is an outbound media vehicle, where people can –like ships in the night– respond to your passing business message with their own passing message but they can’t invade your business message space with negative input.

Facebook, on the other hand, is an inbound media vehicle that allows outsiders to post virtually anything they choose whenever they choose, and it ends up plastered right there next to your carefully constructed heartfelt business message, serving to undermine your business credibility until it can be spotted and removed.

What this distills down to is that business marketing applications in social media can be very effective when they are carefully planned and monitored daily. Yes, daily.

You may think you’re above all that, and are 

capable of simply “winging it.” Think again.

You can’t let other Twitter users provoke you into a debate (or even a one-time comment) about politics or religion unless these subject areas are part of your business foundation.

Don’t believe me? Try it once; your “Followers” will drop like flies. Business-focused Twitter users appreciate business-focused and/or motivational messages, but if those same people do not like your politics, or posts you might make about other taboo subjects (racial profiling, sexism, abortion, anything that’s highly-charged), they will cut you out of their contact base in an instant.

Like joining a game or contest that’s already in progress, enter slowly and politely until you have a clear reading on the unwritten rules. Then plan accordingly and be prepared to stay on top of it every day.

Oh, and please always remember to say “Please”

and especially “Thank you.” Thank you! 

 

 931.854.0474 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.
 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

11 responses so far

Aug 23 2010

“Reading” Your Target Market

  ~~~The TXTMSG

                         

Line in the Sand~~~

                                          

                                                          

Are you really sure you understand your target market?

Are you still selling what you’ve always sold the same ways you’ve always sold? Are you using the same best sets of words in the same tone of voice? Still giving the same premiums and discounts and “special” offers, the same warranties and reassurances? Still emphasizing the same benefits and features?

If your answer to any of these questions is leaning even just a little bit toward yes, odds are you have either gotten lazy, have not been keeping up with the times, have not been sizing up your target market the right way, or you’ve been spending too much time in Disneyland.

Let’s eliminate the first and last choices and assume you are being conscientious, but have maybe lost touch with some of what’s going on in your customer (buyer) and consumer (user) markets (which of course are sometimes one in the same and sometimes different). Consider this:

They seemingly cannot

                                       

function for more than

                                    

a  couple of minutes

                                 

without looking to see

                                  

if they are receiving a

                                      

text message.”

                       — Fred Hertrich, Professor of political science, Middlesex (NJ) County College,   describing one of the prevailing winds in today’s college student population – to underscore: 1) the frustration of many teachers trying to deal with rooms full of distracted people and 2) the necessity of today’s faculties to communicate with students electronically.  

(East Brunswick, NJ, Home News Tribune, 8/21/10)

 

Has the prospective customer or consumer you seek most to influence crossed the line of electronic literacy? “But,” you say. “I’m not selling electronics!” Perhaps, but you are selling to people who are either electronics-literate or not.

Computer savviness is no longer the guide (unless you’re selling to nursing home residents) because everyone knows something about computers. The place where the line is drawn in the sand is:

                                                    

THE TXTMSG LINE

                                                         

Most older-than-45 people can and do use cell phones, check websites, visit blogs, send emails, search Bing and Google, and purchase online. Most know how to use WORD and many use Twitter and Facebook. But very few of these folks text message because they grew up in a different world.

Older Americans learned that “correct” and “proper” communication depends on neat handwriting and that spelling, punctuation, and grammar are paramount ingredients. Lax email messaging is about as far as these folks will comfortably stray. Texting is to them like “Emails Gone Wild!” and too “teeny-bopper” cult-like to be able to relate to.

Well, that may not mean anything to you, unless you’re targeting 20-somethings or 60-somethings, who clearly will not respond positively to the same old kinds of messages delivered in the same old ways. It’s not a bad idea to periodically step back and reassess what you’re saying to whom, and how you’re saying it.

                                                                                 

Think of it as a

GR8 NU WAY 2 C HOW UR MAKIN UR PT.

 

www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.
 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 
Make today a GREAT day for someone!

5 responses so far

Aug 17 2010

Why Twitter beats Facebook for business!

Twitter is for extroverts.

                                                        

Facebook is for introverts.

                                                          

 Businesses can’t be introverts.

                                                                                                                     

According to Google, there are now well over 500 million Facebook users. According to anyone engaged in social media, Facebook is an IN-bound media vehicle. This means simply that visitors, friends, customers and prospective customers must come to you to visit your profile, your friends, your photos, your comments, your network, your “wall.” All good stuff if that’s what you seek.

Interestingly, Google also reported at the same time, that there have been over 20 billion (with a “b”) Tweets (message postings) on Twitter. Again, according to social media gurus, Twitter is (conversely to Facebook) considered an OUT-bound media vehicle. This means Twitter users are reaching out to the world with their Tweets instead of (like Facebook users) trying to bring the world to them

If you run a small business (unless it’s minuscule, and caters, for example, exclusively to a neighborhood), odds are that Twitter represents a better investment of time for marketing some aspect of your business than Facebook. Yes, Facebook affords an additional personal touch for many businesses, and there’s nothing wrong with using both when you can afford the luxury of time.

But consider this:

If you already have a website, you already have an IN-bound media vehicle, and it’s one over which you have total control… and you can personalize it as much as you choose, including being able to orchestrate ongoing discussions, exchanges and commentary, even in fact as much as Facebook, if not more.

For healthy and maximally-productive promotion of your business:

  • Focus your energy on developing your own website with your own blog (or have somebody write one for you because the more active your blog is the more activity your site generates and the farther up you move in search engine rankings).

  • Realize that your website will never and should never be done. Accept the fact that the best websites are those that continue to change and reflect the changes in the business and industry or profession they target and the marketplaces they cater to.

  • Supplement your ongoing site development efforts with ongoing investments of time and creative energy in launching ongoing Twitter Tweets.

  • Avoid getting snookered by all the social media and Twitter “experts” out there of which there are probably a hundred trillion or so (and these are probably mostly people who spend all day at it and so proclaim themselves advisors, coaches, consultants, and pros). 

  • Learn the best mix the same way you learned your business — trial and error, and maybe enlist some trusted, proven experience businesspeople who are top marketing writers with a creative flair who can help you get started, or re-started.

So, you can just barely find me on Facebook only because I like to keep in touch with family and friends, but not because I have the need to spend hours “socializing” on the Web or because I think Facebook will help my business. It won’t. I look at my page every few months; that’s a clue. 

You can  find me on Twitter every night because I have built a very selective following of people who are interested in business and marketing and leadership and selling and self-development and communications and creative writing. When those people like what I have to say on Twitter, they visit my blog.

When they like my blog, they visit my other sites. When they like what’s on my sites, they call or email me and that’s how I build a prospect and customer base. In other words, use Twitter as your outbound vehicle (combined with emails and ads or whatever you choose) to get visitors to your inbound vehicle, your website. Why shuffle people into Facebook as an extra step to visit your website?

Shuffled visitors often fall by the wayside.

Don’t you?  

 

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

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

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

One response so far

Aug 15 2010

Is Your Business News Getting Coverage?

Business media coverage

                                                                                      

doesn’t start and stop

                                  

  with a news release! 

 

If your business isn’t getting the kind of news coverage you would like, maybe you’re giving too much attention to what your news release says and not enough to those who decide its newsworthiness.

Whether or not your news release prompts media coverage has first to do with how newsworthy (and UN-self-serving) it is. Second, it will only get meaningful placement attention when you (or whomever you designate) give(s) meaningful appreciation attention. This doesn’t mean fawning over or patronizing reporters and editors. It means appreciating their situations and responsibilities.

In the past 90 days, over 30,000 journalists have changed their jobs, their “beats” or their places of work.

 (Source: www.MyMediaInfo.com)

So regardless of how stellar and airtight your perfectly worded and formatted presentation may be, this is an industry where writers and editors may have other things on their minds besides your news release.

                                                                             

In most cases, you will not break through the clutter with an email or printed page and a half of sensational news about your company’s products, services, activities, or ideas. It will take more than that. The word here is empathy — putting yourself in other’s shoes. Maybe you think you shouldn’t have to do that as a matter of business practice.

But consider that media people (as much as we may justifiably bash the network TV anchors and often extremist editorial board behaviors) tend to be sensitive beasts. They are caught in the middle of the need to balance legitimate value stories with the illegitimate ones that will sell more newspapers and magazines and more broadcast airtime to keep enough revenues flowing to pay their salaries.

Yes, of course there are always online avenues of news exposure. Some of these — for example, www.PRWeb.com and online granddaddy, www.PRNewsWire.com, charge exorbitant fees by comparison with www.MarketersMedia.com, but they have higher “Reach” capabilities. If you don’t need to connect the world, consider MarketersMedia.

Combined with Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and other less significant players, these news release outlets can be highly productive channels.

In fact, most traditional journalists now use Twitter on a regular basis. (Source: www.MyMediaInfo.com) But, still, for really big news coverage, many continue to look to major media coverage as the difference between news and N E W S.

Okay, so do you think a single news release delivered to the Wall Street Journal from any lower level name awareness than Mr. Goldman or Mr. Sachs is going to get your new Whiz Bang Production Facility on the front page? On ANY page?

Public Relations requires Media Relations.

The best business coverage only happens 999,999 times out of a million because relationships are established and nurtured.

Like every other industry and profession, there are “tricks of the trade” you need to know in order to make your efforts pay off.

It cost money to learn and apply these secrets. Many PR firms charge $10,000 to $30,000 a month to play the PR game for you, but a good PR Coach (who will help you play the game yourself) shouldn’t be more than $1,500 to $3,500 a month (including writing a monthly release or two!).

# # #

931.854.0474 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.
 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Jun 19 2010

More Economy-Coping Moves

Is your business

                                      

constipated?

                                                               

     Have you withdrawn from your industrial, professional, or community contacts in order to economize time and effort, and consolidate expenses?

     Have you pulled your business back from expansion ventures and marketing budgets in favor of maintaining salaries and benefit plans?

     These questions are reminiscent of the old story about the successful hot dog wagon vendor whose son returned home from college filled with fresh learnings from his economics class:

Dad,” he said, “my business professor says this economy is going belly-up and that small businesses will suffer the most. He says small business owners should pull in their sidewalks, cut back on expenses, and stop advertising because there really is no hope.”

Well, the father thought to himself, I guess I’d better do as my son says. After all, I saved up all my money to send him off to college to learn about what business decisions to make. So, the father cut back on hot dog and bun quality, and took down his sign.

In two weeks, he was out of business, and telling everyone how smart his son was to have predicted the hot dog wagon shutdown.

     Now if any of this is even remotely familiar, I am not at all suggesting you run out to stock up on laxatives, enemas, and prune juice. But maybe it’s close to the point where you may want to evaluate how much you’ve given up in the process of thinking about giving up.

     If you’re continuing to draw a consistent salary while cutting back quality, service and marketing, you’re going to win the national spelling bee with an example of how you use the word, “disaster.”

     Look again at your business priorities.

     In fact, no matter what your current status of business “regularity,” it’s a good idea to re-check what exactly you and your business are actually doing? Who is in fact doing what? And in what order of  importance?

     Do your daily priorities match up with your adjusted goals? If you must continue with marketing cutbacks, are you at least substituting other less-expensive-than-media alternatives . . . like blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, BizBrag, MerchantsCircle, and email blasts?

     Are you and your people making yourselves more visible in your industry or profession? In your community and neighborhood? Are you letting go of old ideas about how to cope with a tight economy? Hopefully. . .

www.TWWsells.com or call 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! God Bless America, and God Bless Our Troops “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

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May 24 2010

NO SOCIAL MEDIA BIZ “Secrets”!

How to bypass

                               

banishment

                            

to the social media

                            

basement of

                                                            

business blunderers…

                                                              

     Don’t let the hype-artists intimidate you into thinking there are some kind of magical secrets you need to know in order to make social media work for your business. Sorry for the sprinkling of reality, but the “magical” part is simply common sense, and the “secrets” are nothing more than common courtesies

     There is just the first name of the thing to be tended to: Social.

     If Twitter and Facebook and YouTube and the others were intended to be all about business, they would have been called business media. But, Aha! They are social media, which means that if you choose to bring your business to a social gathering spot, you’d better be willing to lighten up and socialize.

     If you instead insist on being a pushy, boorish business type (even if your comments are entertaining), you can count on being left standing in some damp, dark, obscure corner looking forlornly at all those who are having fun bippity-bopping around. You won’t just be feeling left out, by the way, you’ll actually be getting deleted, disconnected, and blocked by the socializers. (Now there’s a concept!)

     Imagine! People hooking up and chatting with one another for the sake of hooking up and chatting? Now that’s not to suggest that all the millions of business-minded, entrepreneurial folks out there cannot go to the party, and cannot talk business. But — like handing out business cards at a wedding — you’ll go further with your pursuits if you focus on being discreet.

     Realize that the vast majority of social media users (“followers” and “friends”) are actively engaged for personal gain and well-being, to look and feel important, and to chit-chat freely with friends, family, acquaintances, and complete strangers in the mad rush of what we have come to call life in our ever-less-personalized, busy, instant communications hi-tech age.

     In other words, if you’re going to go on or into any of these social networks, attempting to hawk your wares or services, you need to remember that you’re a guest at the party that’s catering to friendships, acquaintances, and life issues. If you overlook basic courtesies and fail to indulge in some friendly banter because you’re so focused on selling, you will be banished to the basement of business blunderers!

     And, it is that — first and foremost — that business moguls must remember: Always thank your host and hostess or, in this case, those who mention you, who connect with you, who introduce and applaud you, and even those who disagree with you. Don’t pass up any chance to express your appreciation and gratitude to others by name.

     Start out timid. Brash crashers are viewed the same in social media as they are at a real party. If you stick to an agenda of being discreet, polite, friendly, and caring, fellow followers and friends may even outright welcome your sales spiels . . . especially when what you have to say changes frequently and gives others pause to think about, laugh at (be careful here!), or learn from.

     Best to stay clear of the same topics you are generally best to stay clear of at a real party — religion, politics, family laundry, and sex (not necessarily in that order). Remember the alternative: basement banishment is not typically a pleasant experience.  

 Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! God Bless America, and God Bless our troops “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

No responses yet

Apr 15 2010

Small Business Social Media Rampage MYTH

Only 16%

                          

of Thirty Million

                                                      

US Small Businesses 

                                            

Use Social Media!

                                            

     We have already recently heard that fewer than half of America’s 29.7 million small businesses actually have their own websites, and were astonished. When you’re clicking back and forth to your own and other sites all day, it’s incredulous to believe that everyone else is not. Well, now we have more fuel for the opportunity fires.

     Results of a poll http://bit.ly/bWvym3 commissioned by EMPLOYERS, a small business insurance company, was reported today in Angelique Rewers’ final edition of  The Corporate Communicator (rolling over next week into her new online publication, “BRILLIANCE … Rich, Smart and Happy” — Watch for it. Angelique is a sensational writer and online publisher!).

     The poll is a reality slap! 

     Bottom line: You thought the whole world was TWITTER and Facebook crazy and that any business worth their salt had to be heavily engaged in this explosive new media form with knock-’em-dead marketing messages and links galore. Not according to the 500 small business owners and managers surveyed:  the total number of small businesses using social media for marketing is hovering somewhere around a very unimpressive 16%.

     But what does this mean? First of all, consider the vast untapped market potential this information suggests. What a fantastic opportunity this awareness serves for those who focus their businesses on Internet marketing development, and on small business development and related services.

     Just consider the prospect pool. There are more businesses out there who need what you have than there are those who already have it, and clearly everyone will at some point down the road indeed have both feet in the websites and social media arenas.

     Now add to that mix those who already have websites and social media savvy. They either do or will soon need overhauls, updates, upgrades, revitalizations, and expanded, pizazzed-up, better-functioning services. Nowhere does this ratchet up service needs more profoundly than with content development (copywriting) because word content is king in the visual world of the Internet. [If you need help with this and you’ll pardon my brashness, you can find my rates and services at www.TWWsells.com]

     To top off the survey findings, the majority of small businesses leveraging social media are finding it effective, more than half those interviewed believe that having a social media presence is important, and nearly 60 % who do use it say it has provided value to their businesses. So, how much farther does the gauntlet need to be thrown down to you, for you to consider crossing the moat?

     What are you waiting for?

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! 

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Apr 13 2010

Watch What You Post!

The Cyberspace

                                     

World Bank 

                                               

is saving our

                             

beat old posts

                                     

for just the

                                  

right occasion! 

                                                                

     Maybe it’s too late to count ourselves out of the award-running for the World Cup of Stupid Internet Comments, considering how dumb that snippy-snappy email or website post was that we angrily tossed off a couple of years back when we were more irate and quick trigger-fingered . . . but we don’t have to have it start an avalanche.

     Remember that comment we posted on some website way back when? You know the one. It went something like:  

“If you knew even the first thing about business, you dumb geek, you’d get out of that garage of yours and get a real job while you return to the college you dropped out of, and furthermore, Billy Gates, if you think I would ever consider hiring you to even sweep my floors you’re sadly mistaken. You’ll never succeed unless you can stop dreaming and finish your education!”

     Like an elephant, Cyberspace never forgets. The comments we make today on mover and shaker sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, BizBrag, Salesblogcast, iSALESMAN, Google, PoorIrishman, TBDConsulting and InterlakenInn are being watched and talked about. But so are the posts we put on downscale, disreputable sites like those commandeered by network media, incompetent government agencies, and porn purveyors — where what we have to say is given no more credibility than what’s said by the hosts.

     Almost all of what we have to say today that has any substance to it, carries with it the promise of coming back to haunt us (if not bite us in our respective butts) ten or twenty years down the road.

     Never before in history have we the people subjected our innermost thoughts and most volatile expressions to such states of accessible public permanence. Today’s passing thought will not land in a ribbon-tied bundle of letters socked away in a shoebox on some closet shelf or in some attic trunk waiting for discovery by distant generations.

     When we hit that email “Send” click, or website “Post” button, we are literally donating our private thoughts and feelings to eternal public scrutiny. It’s taking some time for this to sink in, but the reality of it is striking. Where else in history did people set themselves up to make scathing, heat-of-the-moment remarks only to have them be dissected and subjected to overkill, out-of-context evaluation 24 hours a day, every day for lifetimes beyond their own?

     The trick here is to:  

A) Think before we click  

B) Realize that anything we say, can and will be used against us in a court of public opinion (and having the right to an attorney won’t make a hill of beans difference!) 

C) Trash our computers and never look back! 

D) Overwhelm all of our friends and followers with a tsunami of upbeat messages that even our severest critics can’t help but cry tears of joy at our transformations. (“Kill ’em with kindness!” me mother usedta say.)

So, uh, before you comment below . . .                                                                             

Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You! Make it a GREAT Day! 

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Apr 05 2010

“It’s not my job!”

So, ARE you the Boss, or not?

(Part I of II)  
                                                                                  

     Other than bad news from your accountant, there’s very little you can hear that’s worse than, “It’s not my job!”  Nor does it make any difference which of those four words is most emphasized (and of course the absolute worst place any boss can hear these words is when an employee says them to a customer!).

The example, though, serves to make a point:

You’re “The Boss” . . . What’s YOUR job?

 

     If you want to start making more money by tomorrow morning, you’re going to have to change a few things. If you’re going to change a few things, you have to be very clear and keenly aware of what exists right now — beforeyou charge in with your wheelbarrowful of shovels, dynamite sticks, battering ram, hammer and nails, concrete, and power tools.

     Probably the most important first step (which, by the way, takes at least 3-6 seconds!) is to accept the fact that the sooner you can get yourself to STOP thinking of yourself as a “business owner” or “operator” or “manager,” the quicker you’ll get to that money-making part. Why? Because . . .

Because  the minute you think of yourself as some title, like “the owner,” there are certain defined behaviors and privileges that go along with that title, and each of those is limiting.

They unconsciously require you to behave in certain ways.

They actually block you from exercising your true entrepreneurial pursuits, your innovative ideas, and your ability to move your business forward in high gear.

 

     To put aside your self-imposed limitations, you must first put aside your thoughts of being “the owner/operator/manager,” and start to think of yourself as more of the free spirit that started your business, or that started working with it from that very first day. Remember that? You were all cranked-up and uninhibited in your thinking?

     Forget about what happened since then and focus on where you are right this minute. And as for “down the road,” if you know where you want to end up, don’t waste time checking the finish line; stay with your heartbeat and pulse and breathing! 

     This “New You” also needs to throw off any and all “Get Rich Quick” schemes. Reality note:There is no such thing! Forget about all those slick email and Twitter and Facebook and YouTube come-ons and one-time-only deals that promise transformation of your life and business into an overnight kingdom for just four easy payments of $29.95.

     Instead, you might give some thought to what you could do for your your business yourSELF for the $119.80 [oh, right, “plus S&H” . . . or now it’s “P&H” . . . “P” for Processing. Apparently “Shipping” is now free and you pay only for “Processing.”  Hmmm, “Processing” PLUS “Handling”? Aren’t employees PAID to do “S” and “H” and “P”?  Is somebody double-dipping?]

     Okay, here it is. This is what you’ve been waiting for . . . 

          To get ready to make more money starting tomorrow morning: 

1) Start focusing on what you can do immediately to shed your mental cloak of limitations that revolve around BEING (insert your title), and instead take 3 bold, positive steps toward framing your business in some exciting new, more realistic, more authentic, more transparent directions.

2) Order more deposit slips. 

 Comment below or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

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

Make it a GREAT Day for someone!

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