If you are one of the following, you are all of them . . .!

Small Business and Professional

Practice Owners and Managers,

Educators, Sales Professionals,

and Entrepreneurs

What makes you different? Just the path you’ve chosen to take? Think about the one you’re on. 

It doesn’t matter if you teach third grade, own a chain of pizza parlors, sell advertising space or socks or perfume or gaskets. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a heart surgeon, hot dog vendor, social media guru. or a charity fundraiser. It makes no difference whether you manage a work team, a sports team, or function like the Lone Ranger.

The bottom line is that you’re not a government incompetent or corporate mogul or union thug, which means that you work for a living.

You work at what you do, what you support, believe in, were trained for, invented, designed, inherited, created, or stumbled into.

Does that pretty much cover it?

Ah, but what makes you the same? How could such diverse specialists have common grounds? Well, hey, you’re all leaders, right? You’re all communicators. And you are all (like it or not, willing to admit it or not) heavily engaged in selling on a daily basis.

You spend the bulk of your energy attempting to engage the interest and support of others in the ambitions, goals,  practices, opportunities, beliefs, ideas, and challenges that occupy your table, fill your plate and dance around your dining room.

Even when you’re not “at work,” even when you’re at family gatherings (you know, Ground Hog’s Day and Boxing Day, stuff like that), you’re still selling (oh, that nasty word again, especially for all you professional practice types; I know, there’re not too many brain surgeons rolling up their sleeves in supermarkets these days doing a “tell ya what I’m gonna do for you” presentation. There is that guy,though, with the sets of knives . . .)

What is it that you do when you get ready to give someone your spiel? Isn’t it that you (and sales professionals know this better than the rest of the world) are seeking common ground, shared interests, places where you can better relate to your audience? Aren’t you looking for places your paths have crossed?

Oh, my, there go all those light bulbs at once. Wait a second will you while my transition lenses back off. Ah, such a flood of light! 

So back to places your paths have crossed . . . of course that’s what we instinctively seek! Isn’t it, by the way, the premise for Facebook and LinkedIn?  

Whether we’re teaching a classroom full of students, explaining a procedure to a patient, a reason to donate, a special deal on foreclosed property, the benefits of sushi, the truck’s suspension system awards, how the use of Twitter can outperform Facebook, why everyone should buy a new mattress every ten days, or how easy it is to use this new bookkeeping system . . . we are constantly looking for common interest areas we can use to establish rapport.

We go to great lengths and ask a zillion questions to get to the point of “So you’re a Cubs fan, huh? Poor guy; you’ve really suffered over the years. I used to hang out with a few of them when I commuted from New York to Chicago for three years; I had an office at One East Wacker Drive on the Loop. What’s the name of that rooftop restaurant there?”

Well, maybe not all that dicey, but you get the point. We all seek crossed paths. They help us get closer to what’s under our skin. Prospecting is easier, but –more importantly– growing our relationships with existing customers, clients, patients, employees, suppliers, investors, lenders, and referrers is also easier.

Stop fighting it. Getting to know others better is a pathway all by itself . . . and one you can never tell where it will lead, but usually it will go where your authentic self opens doors and focuses spotlights. Open minds open doors.

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931.854.0474   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!

Communicate. Communicate.

Communicate. Communicate. 

(Four times? Ah, yes, but repetition sells!)

There is no part of good communicating that beats good communicating! Yes, it takes longer. Yes, it’s more work. Yes it can be annoying (if you choose for it to be), but guess what? It is worth pursuing 100% of the time.

There is no part of good communicating

that beats good communicating!

Sure, you know all about the “listening 80% of the time and talking 20% of the time” stuff. And you know that one-way communicating is for radio, TV, and high physical risk situations.

You’re very aware of how important it is to communicate just the right amount of information — not too much or too little– in order to get the job done.

And you also no doubt know (but may have forgotten) that sometimes a W~H~I~S~P~E~R communicates better than a SHOUT! Oh, and of course you always try to offer and ask for examples to better understand or make a point, right? Right, and diagrams. Think of diagrams as little communications accuracy insurance policies.

So how hard do you listen? Human attention spans drift off in peaks and valleys. People often miss the most important points. This is even more pronounced and more frequent in phone conversations than in one-on-one exchanges.

And in case you thought putting it in writing helps, hmmm, look carefully at your last three emails or text messages!

When was the last time you were approached by a customer or employee or supplier who had input for you –regardless of how valuable or not you perceived it to be– and you pulled out a pen and pad (you do remember what pens and pads are?), and –as if you were a legitimate journalist (a stretch perhaps)– and actually took notes?

Let me get this down. Can you say that again?

What’s an example I can jot down?

Can you give me a resource to make note of that I can check out later?

Here, can you try to diagram that out for me on this pad so it’s easier for me to remember later?

Here’s what I wrote that I thought you just said; is it correct?

Just imagine being a customer or employee or supplier on the receiving end of a note taking boss who asks these kinds of questions. Do you think you might get more accurate initiatives and responses? Does it mean more work on your part? Of course! Will it take more time? Absolutely! Is it worth having clearer exchanges of information?

You don’t know how to explain the new note-taking you? How’s “I’m trying to improve my listening skills.”? Would that create havoc? Who knows, it might even prompt some increased admiration and respect. Maybe others will start doing the same thing? What have you got to lose? Miscommunication?

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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!

“Hide ‘n Seek” worked as kids

…but now it’s “Watch ‘n Tell”!

Business, personal, politics, religion, sex, dysfunctional families, friends, associates, and all your dirty little secrets are now jumbled together in one big knot — and it’s open hunting season!

And you thought you still had some privacy in your life? Think again. In fact, if you doubt me for even one second, I’m going to give you a look at something that, if you haven’t yet seen it, you will absolutely not believe.

In exchange, you’re going to have to let me say a few things though first because I know that once you leave here to click on the experience I provide you with, there’s a good chance you won’t be back ’til tomorrow. (Most people I know who’ve experienced this link stay there and then rush to share it with friends.)

So I want to make sure to get my points in before you X out of tonight’s blog post. Fair enough?

“All the world’s a stage,” said Shakespeare.

So is your business.

Employees, customers, suppliers, referrers, advisors, lenders and investors may work with you and for you and around you and purchase from you, but –all of them added together– comprise your audience. And YOU are in the spotlight all day, every day, even when you’re least aware of it.

Don’t think for a minute that you can casually blend or fade into the background of your business and afford a day or two of not paying attention without suffering consequences. I’m not talking about vacation time or holidays or taking a day or two off once in awhile. I’m talking about hiding out in the back room on a typical workday.

YOU are being watched! You may not be the star of a global broadcast from the confines of your business supply cabinet, but you ARE being watched! The behaviors you evidence, the words you use, the gestures you make, the tone of voice you use, the messages you send are all examples you set (or warnings you send) for those who watch.

“Nah,” you say, “nobody cares about what I do every day, and nobody’s watching me either. Besides, when I want private, I just find a crowded public place to dissolve myself into the crowd.”

Wrong! The place I’m about to send you is enough to make some people neurotic and run to the nearest shrink’s office, or put in an early pre-order for the first production run of Harry Potter Invisibility Capes.

The times have changed. Privacy is now a thing of the past. How can I be so sure? Check this out on your way to having a great night or day: And be amazed! 

(After you click on “And be amazed!” above, double click on any area of the photo that comes up of the 2009 Obama Inaugeration –taken with a robotic 1474 megapixel camera–to bring people closer, and just keep clicking to astonish yourself at the lack of privacy you may have thought you had!)

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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!

Reported today on Sirius radio’s America’s Newsroom . . .

One of every eight American

homes now stands empty! 

Based on today’s news . . .

This “one out of eight” no doubt

includes The White House!

Double-speak –such as that evidenced in tonight’s feeble address by Mr. Obama in attempting to justify his unauthorized headstrong reaction (instead of a measured response) to the challenges and sickness of another nation’s madman leader– doesn’t work for America’s people.

And guess what? Double-speak also doesn’t work for the business you own and/or run and/or manage.

Small business owners, first of all, know instinctively how to practice responding instead of reacting.

If we don’t, we’re out of business. Period.                

• It is lack of leadership that has emptied American homes. It is lack of leadership that has led America to falter and approach other nations balanced on weak knees.

• Lack of leadership is what brings down business enterprises and national governments alike. Clearly, America’s White House is as empty as the two suits that run our country.

• Lack of leadership, in the form of poor management, is responsible for 9 out of 11 new businesses failing within the first 2-3 years of existence (source: The SBA)  

~~~~~~~~

We —as small business owners and managers, and entrepreneurs– must learn from this place in history.

Incompetent leadership cannot be covered up with great oratory and superficial reasoning. We, the electorate see through it. While the facade pictures that are verbally painted may convince those who know not how to think for themselves, they no longer appease or hook those with intelligence.

When we cover up business incompetence, we lose customers; we go bankrupt. We lose.

If you or I were to run our businesses with the same Johnny-come-lately, wimpy, and universally arrogant intervention approaches that were expressed tonight by Mr. Obama, God bless us all.

He has done everything possible to undermine and smother small business because he fails utterly to understand it. He has in the process led us into world disgrace. His assessments –in addition to being unrealistic– are inflammatory to say the least. Talk about pouring gasoline on a fire!

You and I cannot make our business problems go away by giving a political speech and calling it an “explanation.”

We cannot avert financial collapse by offering endless apologies (or simply printing new money!).

We cannot achieve success by concentrating on competitors. 

Sad and unfortunate as it is, thousands of people die every day by acts of terrorism. When –and before– those forces become genuine threats to our existence, we need to act quickly and decisively and unapologetically to protect and preserve our interests.

Do we like what’s happening in Libya? Of course not. But Libya offers no such threat to America. The more the U.S. tries to become the world’s police force, the less effective the U.S. becomes. The more your business tries to monopolize a profession, industry, or marketplace, the less effective it becomes. But you already know that!

Do we like what all our competitors are doing. Of course not. Do we engage them apologetically and make that be productive for us? Are you kidding? Those who succeed in business are those who focus on their businesses, not on what other businesses are doing, or not doing, that may be distasteful. 

When it’s possible to help other businesses without putting your own at risk, go for it! Until then, strengthen yourself so you can get to that point. That works for business and business works! Being consistently authentic and honest and demonstrating integrity works for business too. Will shallow-minded ego-crazed politicians ever get it?    

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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!

“So you work from home, huh?”

______________________

Hey, it’s not everyone who can flap around the house

–or up and down the stairs– in her or his bathrobe

all day, and call that work… and get paid for it!

______

First of all, congratulations for getting yourself out of mainstream corporate and incompetent government arenas, for putting yourself in a work environment that you control, and presumably enjoy more than some sterile cubicle or make-believe “dress up” conference room.

Yes, I know, I know, there are some great exceptions. I work with a few. (And they ARE exceptions!) The point is that you are clearly a cut above average intelligence (and hopefully below average stress) level to be functioning out of your basement, attic, bedroom, garage, kitchen, bathroom, porch, closet, pantry, workshop, shed, or tree house.

But now that you’ve made your bed, laying down there can be unnerving, right?

You keep getting up and walking around; you drive to the convenience store for social stimulation; you bring home stray dogs and cats for company.

You get bleary-eyed staring at the computer screen and keep taking munchie breaks.

Uh, oh. A new bathrobe belt?

Your family admires your independence. Your friends are jealous. Your in-laws think you’re a waste of a good loyal corporate sheep or lemming. But you like the freedom and you’re making a go of it. It’s just not quite working out the way you think it’s should. It’s the missing money in your pocket thing? Ah yes, sore spot! Pockets usually are.

So how do you get from where you are to where you want to be without having to give up your new-found entrepreneurial freedom? It’s called step back and revitalize your sense of self-discipline. Stepping back is easy. Seeing yourself in a revitalization mode is also fairly simple. Both of course are choices. Now comes the challenge.

Self-discipline. Maybe you have to trick yourself. Maybe you have to figure out some way to make it all a game. You know about the mice on the treadmill deal, and Pavlov’s dogs. And you’ve even watched the American Kennel Club finals on TV, so you know all about the perform/reward stuff. Well? Okay you’re not a mouse or a dog, but . . .

There’s something to be said for challenging and rewarding yourself.

Get this next task done and you can have a chocolate chip cookie.

When you’ve made the next three calls on your list, treat yourself to a fresh air walk around the block (uh, depending on where you live, you might want to change out of your bathrobe?) 

Try it! What’s to lose? It’s a little hard for most non-contortionists to pat themselves on the back, but surely you can figure out some reward system that will motivate you and not result in you no longer fitting your bathrobe. Instead of doing tasks of avoidance, try doing tasks of reward for NOT avoiding.

The whole thing, be reminded, is your choice. If you want to choose to over-stress yourself, be my guest. If you seek instead to choose success and make money, choose to keep trying every technique that comes along until you find one that works for you . . . one that makes your home-based business pay for itself, and give you cause to celebrate!

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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!

Let’s get real,

Entrepreneurs!

There’s not much room

left on this planet

for more anger!

We can moan and groan all we want –and justifiably– about the pathetic, ill-conceived, mismanaged, misdirected, arrogant, naive, incompetent, overbearing, scathingly stupid behaviors fostered by the White House since 2008. It adds up to total lack of leadership and complete lack of vision . . . a branding program of anti-reality.

But bitching gets us nowhere. Attacking people personally for their attitudes and behaviors makes us no more reasonable than they are, and doesn’t achieve anything beyond stirring up more anger.

Anger doesn’t work.

It’s not working in Libya, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Northern Ireland, or -today– not in London either. Certainly, it has never worked in the United States. It only serves to shorten fuses and make things worse.

Yes, we, as business owners and managers, have had enough. We are fed up with meaningless run-off-at-the-mouth oratory and reckless spending of our hard-earned tax dollars. We are fed up with attempts to have creeping socialism overpower democracy, our Constitution, and the free-enterprise system that built America.

Hope, Mr. Obama,

doesn’t work either.

It’s time for the federal government to back off and abandon its incessant attempts to smother small business. It is time instead to support the small business owner and startup entrepreneur world if there is ever to be a true economic recovery.

It is simply not true that America’s economy has turned the corner. Falsified unemployment numbers and make-believe claims that home sales are up and foreclosures are down couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Reality is that unemployment continues to worsen. Foreclosures continue to go up. Home sales continue to go down. And a rocket science degree isn’t required to size-up the impact on our daily lives; we need only to look at the gas pumps.

We are being lied to by government-controlled media stooges and greedy union thugs.

Yes we feel angry, but we are smarter than those who pose as leaders, and their contingent of talking heads. We know in our hearts that achievement and accomplishment will not be sidetracked if we maintain balance and control of the businesses we own and operate and birth. 

By working hard AND smart, by never forgetting that America is the product of entrepreneurial growth and our ever-guiding national motto:

“In God We Trust”

. . . by honoring and respecting all who we encounter, including the ignorant, we who own and manage small and family and home and garage businesses can lead America from the darkness of anger and fantasy.

____________________

It will take perseverance and it will take speaking up for what’s right instead of complaining about what’s wrong. Can we turn our anger into productivity? Are you willing to work harder at it?

What can you do to get started now, today?

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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!

Gotta Hitch in Yer Gittalong?

The business of a one-way communicator fades as 

quickly from view as yesterday’s prices at the pump.

When your spoken or written communications cease to be communicating communicatively, and you can feel the bumps but aren’t sure why messages aren’t transmitting to others as smoothly as you think you’re delivering them, check yer gittalong! You gotta hitch there, Pardner.

You don’t need no PhD. You don’t need to give up hours of your time.

It won’t cost you a penny.

All you need to do is ask yourself some questions, then answer yourself.

Quick.

Simple.

Free.

Start with the amount of information you’re putting into your message. Is it too much or too little for the individual or group you’re speaking or writing to, to be able to respond appropriately? Or is it  j~u~s~t  enough? Are you addressing the right individual or group to start with?

Don’t laugh at this last question if you have ever spent more than a wasted minute in a meeting that you should not have been asked to participate in to begin with. Bosses do it every day. They send out an email and Cc the whole world. They call one guy asking to meet with the whole department when only two people should be involved.

But, no. I wouldn’t imagine you’d do a thing like that.

You may, however, not be asking for answers to your questions in ways that encourage promptness, Truth, Justice, and the American Way.

Oh, wait a minute, that’s Superman.

But, hey, no reason you can’t be as efficient to make your point as changing your clothes in a phone booth, right?  

Would I take you this far into a blog post just to urge you to be like Superman? Surely not. The point is that one-way communications are like the radio and TV . . . other than those of us who may be drunk, on drugs, or confined to straight-jackets, most of us don’t talk back to these messages.

When you put out information or requests to others, you want feedback, responses, and answers. That’s two-way communication. Don’t talk like a dictator if you’re trying to cultivate a democracy . . . or an interactive, innovative organization! 

The “Can you hear me now?” TV commercial is a great example of a line that is worthy of using in meetings and phone calls –and even emails– because it solicits feedback. It gives you a checkpoint. It’s a straight out request to make sure that your message is being received and understood. Where are you without that? Where?

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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!

When all else fails, get in the

closet, or under the covers,

or lock yourself in the car

. . . and talk to yourself!

Let’s face it, nobody knows more about your business than you. You can collect ideas and information from everyone who works with you, even those who work against you (like, for example, disgruntled people you once fired, or competitors, or in-laws ;<) and –as yesterday’s post suggested– single-digit-aged kids, but . . .

BUT sometimes, when you’ve got a problem brewing, that’s like sending someone else to the doctor’s office to get a check-up for you.

Only you can know what ails your business.

Yeah, there’s government incompetency, over-regulation, sky-high taxes and fuel costs approaching tsunami proportions, plus other stuff that you can’t control (um, I did mention in-laws earlier?). There is, however, a whole lot you CAN control that you’ll find out about when you talk to yourself.

By the way, take notes!

Here’s how to dig deep under your skin, inside your gut (yucht!) and produce some viable solutions to the problems that threaten your business.

Follow these 17 steps to happy resolution and stop beating your brains in:

1. Cancel your appointments for the afternoon.

2. Find a private place.

3. Go there.

4. Take no hostages: no other people; no cell phones (torture, huh?); in fact, take no electronics of any kind (that means no radios, no portable WiFi’s, no leftover pieces of your dog’s Invisible Fence, no “Beam me in Scotty” magic rings!).

5. Take some deep breaths . . . until you’ve wiped clean the slate in your head that has an agenda on it.

6. Take some more deep breaths (can’t have too many of these!) and tell yourself (out loud) about all the things you’ve been doing right since the year started. Make a list. Yes, quote yourself! Actually write your brilliant comments down on a piece of paper.

7. In each case, identify the key ingredient that made the situation work out positively. Say it out loud to yourself, and, yup, write it down!

8. Are you still breathing?

9. Next, zero in on the 3-ring target you draw. Announce out loud to yourself the number one most immediate problem that needs fixing. Write it down. Put it in the center circle. Next, state and write the number two most immediate problem that needs fixing, in the first ring, then state and record number three in the next ring.

10. Take some more deep breaths.

11. From your initial list of what you’ve been doing right, what key solution ingredient did you use that could be applied to your targeted issues? Say it. Write it. What’s left? 

12. Write down what you might have thought about doing about any leftover problem(s) ten years ago. Don’t “Yes, but” yourself. Just write it down. Now put your pen and paper down, and sing a favorite song to yourself. If you can’t think of any, “Happy Birthday” works just fine. (I did tell you you needed a private place, right?) 

13. Take some more deep breaths.

14. Return to your target and speak out then write down three ways you could use to solve the remaining problem(s) — the first three that come to mind. Which of these is the most realistic and most practical? Need to re-invent your business? Re-invent yourself?

15. Do it.

16. Go back to work.

17.  Have a great day! And remember, you have all the answers. Just reach in and grab them. And keep talking to yourself! 

# # #

    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!

Kids are

the world’s greatest

salespeople because

they know how to 

paint a verbal picture 

. . . and put you in it!

When’s the last time you took business advice from a single-digit-aged kid? Every small business owner, operator, manager, entrepreneur, and sales professional should have to do this at least once a month, even for a ten-minute long crash course.

Ask someone under ten years old to tell you why she or he likes something. Then listen. Ask questions but only for clarification. Odds are pretty good that you’ll end up inside that child’s verbal description of a thing, a place, or an event. You’ll get there by your own choice and you’ll enjoy the experience.

Those of you who are Mothers (or Mr. Mom’s) know all about the pearls-of-wisdom-from-the-mouths-of-babes thing, but in case you’re not, or don’t, don’t think for a minute that you haven’t time to waste with such foolishness.

Innovative business empires have been built on ideas and messages that have come from listening to children.

Children —and generally the younger the better– are less inhibited, have far fewer fears, and fewer feelings of self-importance. They may fantasize. They may not seem very realistic about things like money or distance or amounts or sizing up people or situations, but they speak the truth.

And they are passionate.

And they know how to

paint a verbal picture.

And they won’t hesitate to tell you

all the things you need to know

that no one else will tell you.

You will gain value from a child’s perspective.

His or her viewpoint, remember is looking up under your chin and your belly, and inside your nose. Put your new product, or a photo or video clip of it on the table in front of the nearest 8-year-old and ask what she or he thinks it is. Ask what it does, how it works, who would use it, why, when, where, how?

It’s a service? Simplify your explanation of it and see what you get back. Offer and ask for examples and comparisons. Does he or she if the product or service would be a good or bad thing . . . and why?

Tou’re looking to save your business money? What better deal can you make than to get an outpouring of honest, unbiased opinions about your business or business ventures for the price of an ice cream or hot dog, or a trip to the circus or a walk on the beach or through the park?

On top of all that, you’ll get a firsthand booster shot of salesmanship. Maybe you forgot about how important energy and enthusiasm are, or the importance of painting a mental picture with words, and walking a customer into it. Hmm?              

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302.933.0116     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