Mar 14 2016

DEAR BOSS

DEAR BOSS:

 

What can the matter be?

 

oh-dear-what-can-the-matter-be-

Gallup Research says odds are that your

employees may be costing you a

lot more than you think.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

How so?

 

Fewer than a third of employees , says Gallup, are “Actively Engaged” with their work! (Does that furrow your brow?)

And more than half are “Disengaged” from their work! One out of five is, in fact, Actively Disengaged! (Does that make you snort?)

If you think it’s not true, maybe it’s because some of your people are just good actors! (Does that make you applaud as the cash falls from your pockets?)

upsidedown coin shake

But guess what? YOU are the boss. YOU are responsible. You can delegate authority, but you canNOT delegate responsibility.

Bosses who try to “pass the buck” inevitably fail. Bosses, however, who accept full responsibility and who lead by leading instead of by telling, who make genuine ongoing efforts to create a bond with their employees are the ones who help ensure and foster active employee commitment and –in the process– help ensure and foster black ink on their organizations bottom line!

So where do you start?

 

CHOICE

 

You start with the decision to start. This is a typically easy and quick step. You either want to be a better leader or you don’t.

Assuming your screen-tapping fingers are still capable of the task, START with a WRITTEN-ON-PAPER-WITH-A-PEN goal of where you’d like to end up, and if your goal statement is ever to work, it MUST be:

Specific       Realistic      Flexible     Due-Dated

 

If you stick to working through this in any meaningful way and steer clear of attempting shortcuts, this is a typically hard and slow process. But don’t be discouraged, the harder you work at this, the better your odds for success.

Next, review your goal statement at least daily. Sometimes hourly is necessary. Change it as you open new doors, uncover new problems, discover new directions, meet new people, discover new techniques. Remember, a key criteria is flexibility . . . a sudden storm can quickly disrupt a leisurely canoe trip and force a change in direction. Unexpected removal of a roadblock can shorten and speed up a long drive. When you get this far, check out: HOW to make your goals work.

 

BUT

 

Believe it or not, don’t share your goals with anyone else who doesn’t also have written goals, or who isn’t working with you on a shared goal. Why? Many people are either consciously or unconsciously invested in seeing others around them who strive to succeed, become failures. Doubt this at your own peril.

dog eats homework

Assuming you’ve kept your homework out of the dog’s mouth and actually done what you’ve accepted as necessary, and are getting into the swing of real handwritten-on-paper goals that are flexible, realistic, specific and due-dated, and that you are constantly upgrading them, and carrying them with you all the time and reviewing them as often as you check your wristwatch or smartphone messages, you need to start teaching your people to do the same thing for themselves.

Start them out with a deeeeep breath!

THAT process is a good beginning. But it can only start if YOU start!

 

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

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May 27 2015

Driving Entrepreneurs To Pasture

When it’s time to eat grass,

 

get out of the mud and weeds!

 

You’ve been bustin’ butt to get where you are, and you can’t even find the tunnel, never mind light at the end of it! That’s the nice way to say you’re feeling spent and discouraged. But the truth is — guess what?– you are CHOOSING to feel spent and discouraged! “Spent” and “discouraged” are behaviors, right? And since all humans are born with free will (although some undoubtedly approach dubiousness), humans (yes, even entrepreneurs) all CHOOSE their behaviors.

So now you think you’re going to get lectured? Don’t choose to think that. Choose instead to enlighten yourself. The choice is just as easy, and it’s light-years  more productive. We make choices every minute of every day — from when to wake up to when to go to sleep, and everything in between. HA! And you thought it was just a matter of eggs or cereal for breakfast . . . or whether to sneer, snort, scowl or smile at someone else who chose to be bitchy.

Nope. No lecture here. Just shared awareness based on being an entrepreneur, and working with 2020 entrepreneurs. The bottom line is that the vast majority of entrepreneurs I’ve experienced haven’t a clue about the right time to make their move out of the weeds and into the sunshine-filled pasture, where healthy grazing beats hanging around in mud and weeds infested with mosquitoes. And I won’t even mention the malaria word here. OMG! So many choices!

So, seriously, where does your business live? When will you choose to move it? Where? How?

Our choices are conscious or unconscious. Sometimes the consequences pop up years later. Goal-setting can spare us a lot of “choice” surprises! Are your goals legitimate? They meet all five essential criteria? They are specific, realistic, flexible, due-dated, and in writing? If they are not all five, you don’t have goals; you have a meaningless, nonproductive wishlist. Why would you choose fantasy when choosing (meaningful, productive) reality is just as easy?

Choosing when and how to get your business out of the mud and weeds is not a matter of betting the farm. Entrepreneurs take only reasonable risks. It is a matter of what I call “Opportunity Vigilance.” When you keep focused on making your idea work and on taking advantage of opportunities that represent growth, you are choosing to put yourself and your business in a position of readiness to head for the sunshine-filled pasture where work becomes fun again.

Unless, of course, you’re a FAKE Entrepreneur?

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US    931.854.0474

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Oct 30 2014

FAKE Entrepreneurs

FAKE Entrepreneurs

 

male maskFemale mask

Listen to all the politicians toss the “E” word around, and it will be transparently clear that they haven’t the foggiest idea of what Entrepreneurship is all about. How do YOU stack up? Here are some solid clues and checkpoints:

FAKE Entrepreneurs indulge in constant chatter about how great their business ventures have been, and will be, instead of being focused on the present “here and now” moment, as real entrepreneurs tend to be most of the time.

FAKE Entrepreneurs waste time, energy, and opportunities by whining and complaining about what didn’t “go right.” They instead need to follow real entrepreneurial thinking which calls for learning from the process and adjusting it, then moving on to make their ideas work.

[We’ve all heard the famous comment from Thomas Edison in response to questions about his 10,00 attempts to invent the light bulb, and how he felt at having failed 10,000 times, that he said he instead learned 10,000 ways to not make a light bulb!]

FAKE Entrepreneurs talk nonstop in convoluted terms about big money deals they have made and will soon be negotiating, instead of real entrepreneurs who pay tenacious attention to their current cash flow.

FAKE Entrepreneurs react instead of respond and blame others (predecessors, parents, partners, competition, the economy, climate change, and childhood) for costly business errors and decisions, instead of accepting—as real entrepreneurs—that the upsets are the result of a conscious or unconscious choice that they made now or in the past, and getting on with life.

FAKE Entrepreneurs consistently “take entrepreneurial risks” without remembering to put the word “REASONABLE” in front of “risks.” Real entrepreneurs don’t bet the farm. Real entrepreneurs take more risks than corporate and government managers, but the risks they take are always reasonable and realistic.

FAKE Entrepreneurs refuse to set goals because they fear failure, and refuse to learn proven goal-setting criteria which include “flexibility” as a key determinant. Real entrepreneurs set goals and routinely change them as they go forward because A) Nothing is in concrete, and B) times, people, and circumstances often change at the proverbial drop of a hat.

[Reality dictates moving or adjusting the goalpost or the terms initially determined for getting into the end-zone. Real entrepreneurs know they don’t need to stay on someone else’s measured field or inside someone else’s stadium in order to score a touchdown!]

FAKE Entrepreneurs mask what they’re doing behind closed doors or armies of hungry lawyers, out of fear someone will steal their idea and beat them to the punch (and that, by the way, can happen easily while ego-feeding with those few, well-disguised, bad-news investor and business lawyer vulture-types!).

Real entrepreneurs understand that seeking trustworthiness in associates is paramount among desirable qualifications, and that proprietary rights, copyrights, patents, trademarks are important, but that the time and energy of appropriate types of attorneys must be carefully shopped for and firmly (and appropriately) channeled.

[With cautious judgment, real entrepreneurs will usually embrace competitive overtures (and sometimes offer some). Many businesses maximize success for themselves by clustering, or joining forces with, or bartering with other like-minded entities… often a mainstay of retailing to stimulate consumer shopping and even realize cost savings with co-op advertising and promotion events.]

 How do YOU stack up?

# # #

Hal@BusinessWorks.US      or 931.854.0474

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

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

Make today a GREAT Day for someone!

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Sep 11 2014

STARTUPS: Stop Looking For Money!!!

The longer and more energetically

 

you look for venture capital, the

 

quicker the likelihood your new

 

business will go down the tubes!

 

The process of seeking startup funding is like trying to put the roof on a new garage that you’ve already rushed to park in… but that has no studs in place or foundation to hold them. Advice: If you’ve gone this far, don’t be sitting in your car, especially if it’s a top-down convertible. After coaching 500 successful launches, I know whereof I speak.

With extremely few exceptions, I have found that the physical, mental, and emotional drain an entrepreneur experiences while chasing money ends up costing so much in time, energy, attention, out-of-pocket expenses, and lost opportunities, that new business ventures are often thrown under the bus before they can even get reach the intersection.

USE your time/money/energy instead to make your ideas work. When you ignore your finances and focus on making your idea work, on the market you’re going into and on the marketability of your product or service, money will come to you, seemingly out of nowhere and from sources you might least expect.

Don’t let others (including TV programs like Shark Tank or websites like Kickstarter) fool you into thinking that formal business plans, for example, are the answer. They’re not.

I’ve written scores of formal business plans, some of which raised many millions of investment dollars. But those winning plans were for established businesses seeking capital to expand. And they took four to six months to write. That’s a big chunk of time to not be head-down-and-charging-forward with birthing your business.

And all formal business plans cost some substantial dollars for professional fees (CPA, attorney, writer, researcher, printer, etc.). Well, what about offering those folks equity? you might ask. Think hard about that one. Even if they love you and your ideas, they got where they are by charging big-time fees, and your credit sheet, charging for telephone time, for example, won’t be any exception.

The best business plans (unless you are truly at the break-out point of needing venture capital or a bank or small business loan, which unfortunately still all call for formality) . . . the best plans are typically scribbled on the back of an envelope, folded into a pocket for a few days, then replaced with another updated version, which is folded into a pocket for a few days, then replaced . . . etc., etc.

These “Envelope Plans” are best because they are real-time happening and they keep your attention on what you need to do today, tomorrow, this week.

Goals are great and highly recommended if they are specific, realistic, flexible, due-dated, and are in writing. But thinking too much about your goal puts your mind into fantasyland and pulls you away from your immediate purpose. Runners who focus on the finish line too much, trip and fall.

If your idea is good and marketable, stay with it. Work it. Make it happen. After it’s working, if you want to expand operations, then consider formal business plans. But don’t distract your commitment and passion at the outset. Would you put a new baby down in the middle of a high-traffic expressway so you could run a few miles to go buy extra diapers?

 

# # #

 Hal@BusinessWorks.US or 931.854.0474 or comment below

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

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

Make today a GREAT Day for someone!

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Jul 20 2012

You got 20/20 Vision? Hmmm, what’s your Mission?

Is Your Vision Statement A Mission?

Does Your Mission Statement Have Vision?

                                         

It’s the 4th Quarter and you’re confused? Gee, hard to imagine . . .

                                                  

Just because the media and politicians tell us the economy is getting better? Just because we’re looking at a healthcare reform that has absolutely nothing to do with healthcare and everything to do with costing business more money? Just because enemy combatant terrorist situations surface from those we’re told are not really terrorists, and from circumstances that we’re assured do not exist? Just because global-warming hoaxers have us running to refrigeration investments?

~~~~~~~

We’re probably feeling like confusion is nothing new, right? So why not live with a little more?

Well, here’s why: The business you own or manage doesn’t need to be as misguided and convoluted as politicians and the media. Remember they get paid for creating confusion. Your success depends on keeping things simple.

Keeping things simple starts with a foundation of mutual trust, an integrity attitude, tenacious awareness, and consistent hard work.

First off, don’t let anyone tell you to work smarter and not harder. That’s baloney! Every business success comes from hard work. Next, don’t let people confuse you about the characteristics and values of Mission and Vision Statements. [No, they are NOT the same!]

A Mission statement is essentially a declaration of intent, challenge and pursuit. It is your goal statement that clearly and succinctly explains what you plan to accomplish over what specific period of time and by what means. It is action-focused. Its ultimate success will be determined by the extent to which you cultivate mutual Trust among those you work with and oversee.

And, like every meaningful goal, your Mission Statement needs t0 be specific, flexible, realistic, have a due date, and be in writing. [Without all five criteria, you’ve nothing more than a fantasyland wishlist!]

A Vision statement is a heart-and-soul summation of where you see your business in 5-10 years. It is a picture you paint in your mind and share with others. It answers the question: If you succeed in your mission, where will you be? Its success is determined by your practice of —and ultimately your reputation for— high Integrity on a consistent day-to-day basis.

Your Vision Statement is a set of words that best describes what you imagine your future state of existence to be, and how you expect (hope) to be viewed by others: your employees, associates, vendors, customers, markets, industry or profession, and community. It is dream-focused. Its primary value is to inspire pursuit of your Mission.

What’s your Mission for next year? What’s your Vision for  five years out? For beyond 2020?

Oh, and in the same fashion that it helps to start ANY mission with 20/20 vision, it is often most useful to put your 2020 Vision on the table (to keep focused on it) while you develop your present Mission (or while you think up the ways to get where you want to end up).

# # #

Hal@BusinessWorks.US

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

Open Minds Open Doors

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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May 09 2012

HAPPINESS IS THE WAY!

There is no way

                       

to happiness.

                                   

Happiness IS the way!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Stop looking for the finish line. Watch your feet. Happiness is not the destination. Happiness is the journey.

If you’re having trouble getting that message, it’s because you’ve consciously or unconsciously chosen to set yourself up to get brainwashed into thinking that nothing of any value exists besides the future. Well, in fact, dwelling on the past that’s over and can’t be changed is equally neurotic to being focused on the future that hasn’t yet come . . . and may never!

This futures mindset is a common occurance with salespeople who live to reach and exceed their weekly and monthly and quarterly and annual goals. Nothing wrong with goals that are specific, realistic, flexible, due-dated, and written. But the blind pursuit of any target that doesn’t measure up to all five of those criteria is simply a futile wish-list chase into fantasyland.

Talk with a car salesperson to get a better perspective on how happiness gets lost under reckless abandon to achieve a rigid inflexible goal at all costs.

If a goal is flexible, for example, and it’s clearly not going to be met, it needs simply to be changed — change the amount, the time period, the process, the methods, etc. Effective goals are not meant to be etched in concrete. Meaningful targets are always moving. Effective goal achievers move with them by glancing ahead and staying firmly anchored in the present.

What makes focusing on the future unhealthy? It quickly and easily turns away from being a positive and constructive direction when it stealthily tip-toes over the line into worry. Worrying is a complete waste of time and energy. It produces absolutely nothing except negative stress which rapidly produces illness.

Okay, you’ll grant me that worrying is worthless, so if that’s the problem, what’s the solution? It’s not a magic answer because each of us handles stress differently. So here’s a list of the most common solutions that most people tend to practice in one form or another. Try what sounds right for you, and what seems practical at the time.

Then keep trying until something works, but don’t quit on yourself!

Yoga; swimming; jogging; workouts; walking; singing; dancing; deep breathing; massage therapy; crafts; playing with a baby; playing with kids of any age; playing with pets; keeping a journal or diary; visiting another close environment (woods, beach, etc.); reading fiction; watching a cartoon; drawing/sketching/painting; fixing a meal (if this is not something you usually do); listening to music with your eyes closed . . .

The point is to know when you’re starting to feel stressed (this can be the most challenging part of the solution) and then to stop whatever you’re doing and do something different for a minute, an hour, a day . . . whatever’s appropriate for you, now.

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Dec 13 2011

“GOING INTO” 2012

You are NOT

                              

“going into” 2012!

                                      

You are making it happen!

                                   

You’re an entrepreneur!

                                                            

                                                  

The forecast: stormy, bleak, doom and gloom? I don’t think so. You didn’t start or take over a business to improve your skills at playing the victim role. When you kicked into second and third gear, it was because you saw stars in the sky and you knew you were making your own choices, creating your own destiny. Right?

So, let’s look at the mess we’re in realistically. We have a chance to get out of this year standing upright, and to make happen what has to happen. To jump-start 2012– make the very best possible use of the next two weeks. That means, first and foremost, to do family relax time, pay attention to your SELF, and go with the flow.

In other words, abandon the maniacal pursuit you’ve been on all year in favor of jetting down, assessing yourself and your business. Refocus your day-to-day activities. Relax your brain, and set some meaningful, realistic goals that serve to both challenge and guide your interests and activities.

Did I say “meaningful”? Yes. Scribbling or txtg a nice-sounding statement about what you aim to do in 2012 may make you feel like patting yourself on the back, but it doesn’t mean beans about what’s real and possible and what needs to be flexible and specific and have a deadline attached. Who says? The Chief Goal Keeper.

If what you come up with as a target for yourself and your business fails to accomplish all six (That’s ALL SIX!) of the following criteria, you are simply not serious about wanting to improve your life. People fail at goal-setting because they fail to be flexible, to realize that not reaching a goal means only one thing: Change The Goal!

To be effective, any goal you set must be specific, flexible, realistic, due-dated, written on paper (and adjusted regularly), and carried on your person! Take all six of these steps, and keep your goals to yourself (because too many people who don’t have goals will try to discourage you from achieving your own!). 

If you do exactly what’s suggested here, you will be successful beyond your wildest dreams in 2012 because you will be making it happen… because you are an entrepreneur, and entrepreneurs don’t “go into” things; they make things happen. Will you? Are you an entrepreneur or a victim? Creating your own destiny is your choice! 

                                                   

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Nov 30 2011

In Debt? Who’s Not? So What?

When business ownership feels claustrophobic…

Debt? Get Used To It!

 

 

DID YOU KNOW THIS?

       [Source: www.cnsnews.com 11/17/11]                          

  • Three weeks ago, the U.S. Treasury Dept. reported that the federal government’s debt had exceeded $15 Trillion for the first time in the history of America, hitting $15,033,607,255,920.32 and safe to assume that it’s higher yet as of today.

  •  The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics just estimated that there were 93,641,000 full-time private sector workers in America in 2010 (and 18,073,000 full-time workers in federal, state, and local government.

  • That means the $15.0336 Trillion federal debt equals approximately $160,545 per full-time private sector worker.

  • Given that the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there were approximately 76,089,045 families in America in 2010, the federal debt equals approximately $197,579 for each and every American family. 

                                     

Besides your vote on November 6, 2012, is there no escape? Well, you could close up shop, grab your piggy bank, and head for some remote island, getting sunburn and mosquito bites and drinking piña coladas and coco locos until you can’t walk or talk — not to mention that there’s just so much coconut milk your system can take!

OR, you could –what did Grandpa used to say?– buckle up, pull yourself up by the bootstraps, put your shoulder to the wheel and your nose to the grindstone! Not a pretty picture. 

You COULD simply make productive use of this traditionally slow business time (unless you’re in retailing, in which case you’re not taking time to read anything right now, least of all a blog post) by doing a little introspection and a quick reassessment of your year-end and new-year goals. Are your goals ALL 6 OF THESE? . . .

Realistic? Specific?

Flexible? Due-Dated?

Written on paper?

In your pocket?

                                                                      

If your goals don’t meet ALL of these criteria, they are the stuff of wishlists and fantasyland. Don’t kid yourself into thinking they’ll work if you skip a couple. But if you follow all six, and keep adjusting them as you go (Flexible, remember?), you will have insured yourself of the best possible outcome. Why settle for less? It’s a choice.

What’s the single most important thing you learned about your SELF in 2011? What’s the single most important thing you learned about your BUSINESS in 2011? How can you combine these two revelations to do a better job of protecting your self and your business in 2012? Roadblocks? What? Detours? Where? Solutions?

Why all the hoopla on goals? Because we’re all in debt up to our ears and there are no miracle prospects on the horizon, so the best solution is to take what you have and work your butt off to make it better, to make it work in spite of what union/government/corporate giant muckity-mucks do or don’t do. It’s all about YOU.

With 30 million small businesses in America, and you as part of that universe, there is untold opportunity for moving forward as a free spirit entrepreneur, and there is untold opportunity for moving forward by working in concert with other like-minded small businesses. Call it collaboration, strategic alliance, whatever works.

In the end, Business Works. Does yours?

 

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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 09 2011

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES…”R”

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

“R”…REVITALIZATION

 

There is a BUSINESS “Fountain of Youth.” Yes, there is. And in my humble judgement, at least half if not three quarters of America’s 30 million small businesses could stand a splash or two, or a cupful to drink (Uh, from the Fountain of Youth!)… right now, today, before or over this weekend at the latest. But quickly. 

                                                         

Why?

  • Because our economic quagmire has been made worse, relentlessly fueled by our wildly out-of-step-with-reality White House. And now is the time to act.

  • Because the White House is in cahoots with brainless, greedy union leadership, and a sea of corporate incompetence. And now is the time to act.

  • The combined political pursuits have succeeded in choking off America’s entrepreneurial spirit and –with it, the nation’s only real hope for new job creation– small business innovation and success. And now is the time to act.

                                                        

So where else is there left to turn? The Business Fountain of Youth! It can nourish, renew, reinvent, refresh, and revitalize. Even as you dip just one toe into it, the youth of your past will rise again.

Okay, says you, where is this place, this fountain? How do I make it work for me? The answers after this. (Sound like a TV news lead-in to a commercial break?) Well, before I reveal the Business Fountain of Youth secrets, I need to ask you to step away from your business long enough to take stock in where you and your business stand.

Where are you, mindset-wise, at this moment? Inventory your goods and services, your staff if you have one, your supporters, your suppliers (everyone from sales reps to maintenance and delivery services). Go ahead and mull this over for a few minutes. I’ll wait.

Good. Now, to move forward with what you have –your existing resources– what’s the next step you need to take for yourself? With your business? Can you be more specific? Go ahead and be specific. I’ll wait again. Go on. There now, I see you crossed some T’s and dotted some i’s… nice work!

Next, ask yourself how flexible you can be with your specific mission? Can you feel okay about redefining the details? About changing the timing, context, parameters? What IS the timing? Put a deadline on this. Put one on yourself.

(But, aha, for purposes of protecting your sanity, make sure you can live with needing to change your self-assigned due date if you feel that need arise at some point.)

Great! Now do a reality check. Is what you’re thinking about right this minute as the road you need to travel, a realistic objective? How realistic?

Oh, right, I was going to give you the scoop on The Business Fountain of Youth — where it is, how to access it, and what to expect. Well, here’s what you need to know:

A) The Business Fountain of Youth is inside you. It is what you make of what you already have.

B) You have just completed a revitalization process by awakening yourself and by answering the questions posed in the format prescribed. You have, in essence, redefined your goals by following the proven trail for addressing and structuring (or re-structuring) necessary goal criteria:

Realistic – Specific – Flexible – Due-dated

 

Without goals that use those four criteria, you are merely wishing and hoping, and that will get you nowhere. Forward motion means getting started, and getting started means looking carefully within your SELF. In other words, REVITALIZATION Starts At Home!                                                                                  

 

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Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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Aug 17 2011

MOVING TARGETS

Well, HOPE never accomplished anything, but we DID get change . . .

Budget-Squeezed

 

Consumers,

                           

Unemployment Line

 

Stampedes,

                     

Fleeing lenders and

 

Investors,

                        

Slithering and Sinking

 

Suppliers

 

The days are done of having stationary targets and goals to focus on. We are a civilization on the move. Some of the action, we asked for. Some, we didn’t. Most threatening are those that have been foisted upon us by a naive, incompetent American government that has zero experience with, or appreciation for, all things business.

Even before I give you the build-up, here’s the bottom line:

You cannot start a fire with a magnifying glass if you have to keep moving the magnifying glass because the object you’re trying to ignite keeps moving!

                                                         

It’s a wonderful thing when your targets stand still for you and you have all the luxury of time to aim carefully before pulling any triggers. But that’s fantasy. Reality is that in today’s still sinking economy, everything is moving and changing — customers, employees, funding sources, referrers, vendors, and the competition are all in motion.

If you really want to put a fire under your ideas, your customers, your employees, et al, you’d be best advised to ditch the magnifying glass and figure out the best way to turn sparks to flames. You need to first explore the nature of the tasks and people involved, and assess your goal structure.

If your goals aren’t specific, realistic, flexible, AND due-dated, you’re headed into fantasyland and running on empty.

You are dealing in (with apologies to Mr. Obama) hopes and dreams: meaningless time-wasting, money-wasting, energy-wasting illusions that savvy entrepreneurs avoid like the plague.

                                                             

Dreams, ambitions, and intentions are great, but only when they are followed promptly by action. Taking action is the mark of a true leader, and all successful entrepreneurs. And some action is always better than noaction. Why? Because –again– trimes have changed and the new old motto is:

“If it ain’t broke, fix it anyway!”   

Be careful to not misread the implications here that you should suddenly fly by the seat of your pants (which could undoubtedly make for an interesting journey, but highly questionable landing). Yes, do charge at your business targets, but remember that –even when they least appear to be– they are moving and changing.

Your ability to adapt effectively to changing, moving circumstances will determine your ability to succeed. How does one prepare for vigorous activity? By stretching of course. What kinds of stretches do you need to build into your daily routine to enhance your flexibility, elasticity, ability to adjust and respond?

Writers read. Language teachers do crossword puzzles. Designers go to the movies. Doctors and dentists invent gadgets. Actors “people watch” in crowds. Musicians hum. Drivers walk. Chefs try different restaurants. Shrinks join therapy groups. Figure out what works for you.   

The world’s greatest athletes –regardless of the sport– are those who practice and practice, and practice again, hitting a moving and/or changing target. The world’s greatest entrepreneurs do the same thing. Remember high school physics class and Newton’s First Law?. . .

“A body in motion tends to stay in motion!” 

                                                                

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  Open Minds Open Doors 

 Thanks for your visit and may God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

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