Entrepreneurial Leadership?

… Practice “The 5 Freedoms”

World renown family therapist and author Virginia Satir spoke with me once after a workshop she ran at the University of California. She told me that small business growth and strength, and family growth and strength could both be most readily achieved with the acceptance and conscientious practice of what she aptly called “The 5 Freedoms.”

I share these with you here, now, not as some plaque to hang on your wall, or slogan to bang into your head, but as a road to travel. You may want to slow your brain down and digest each, then ask yourself how your family, small business or professional practice might grow stronger, quicker, by following your commitment to pursue this avenue.

The 5 Freedoms

by Virginia Satir

To see and hear

what is here,

instead of what should be,

 was, or will be.

To say what one

feels and thinks,

instead of what one should.

To feel

what one feels,

instead of what one ought.

To ask

for what one wants,

instead of always waiting

for permission.

To take risks

in one’s own behalf,

instead of choosing to be

only “secure” and

not rocking the boat.

How and when and where can you use this road to help guide your business and family development interests? Please be sure to let me know if this message works for you, if it helps you think big, and to share it (together with your own thoughts if you choose) by clicking on your choice of social media buttons shown below.

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Hal@Businessworks.US     931.854.0474

Watch where you’re going,

Are You Reacting

. . . or Responding?

When you make it a habit to choose to respond to problem people and problem situations instead of choosing to react, guess what happens?

• You eliminate all possibility of ever over-reacting, and that’s a good thing if you own, operate, or manage a business of any kind.
• It’s also a good thing if you are working your way up the career ladder or committed to creating an aura of professionalism, of peace and calm around your personal and work relationships, your friendships, your family.
• It even increases your odds of preventing accidents, in addition to enhancing your personal performance, and overall health.

Unless you’re in an emergency situation, a calm and thoughtful response solves more problems more effectively than a frazzled or angry reaction. And you already know that choosing calm and thoughtful over frazzled and angry also helps ensure better and longer-lasting health.

Stop reading this right now, and close your eyes while you take a deep breath or two, and pay particular attention to the fact that it slows your heartbeat, helps you collect your thoughts, and increase your sense of self-control.

Go ahead. Treat yourself for ten or fifteen or thirty seconds. You might surprise yourself. Go on; I’ll wait.

So now that you’ve jetted your self down a notch, do you feel or think any differently than you did ten sentences ago? Three or four breaths ago? And what does this post make you think about for yourself that you’ve either not been aware of before, or that you have gotten lazy about?

As today’s world swirls, it’s easy to simply forget how important the distinction is between reacting and responding and how rewarding it can be for you to take more deep breaths more often.

The bottom line? Your behavior –your words and actions– is always your choice. Your choice may not always be a conscious one and it could be one that’s the result of a choice you made long ago that’s come full circle to stir up your anxieties. But recognize it for what it is . . . you can choose to make things easy on yourself, or you can choose to make them hard on yourself. Why would you want to choose unproductive upset over productive calm? And, yes, you can choose courage!

More conscious choices come from more conscious awareness. There are many mental and physical tools available to trigger responsive choices. Deep breathing is one of these. Yoga is another. Regular exercise, visualization (imagining/projecting/”seeing yourself” achieve a task or solve a problem before actually responding), are two others. Having goals that are specific, realistic, flexible, due-dated, and in writing can also help you steer yourself in high productivity directions.

Don’t just think about all this. Try it!

Keep your head cool and your feet warm

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hal@businessworks.US

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

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

Are You Making A Difference?

‘

Until your life and career purposes are interwoven as one, you’re not

likely to be on the road of making a difference for yourself, or for others.

Making a difference may not always measure up to what others consider as success, but there’s little doubt that making the kind of difference in life that really matters requires determination, dedication, commitment, stick-to-it-ive-ness, and resolve.

Okay, you may say, that all sounds good, but what does it actually mean for me in my life, in my work?

It means that –no matter how or where you live, no matter what kind of work you do or career you are in or aspire to, making a true difference in life demands that you do the best you can possibly do, and then more… and that you never give up your pursuits no matter how many discouraging roadblocks block your path, no matter how many opinions cloud the intersections you come to, no matter how many temptations seem to reach out for you to change your path.

It means that –no matter how you feel when you wake up every morning, no matter how stressed or tired, you must remember that you are the only one who can carry your own torch, who can take steps every day on your own behalf by doing what you do best for others… family, friends, co-workers, partners, customers, clients, patients, community, church, and –of course– pets!

Is this a diagram to study? No it’s simply a model from which to create your own diagram that fits your own life and career circumstances, but the model does represent the key ingredients most of us need to move forward with and toward on a daily basis to get where we want to go. The circular motion indicated is not to say we should run around in aimless circles; it is to say that this kind of flow awareness is what it takes to make things happen.

As Shakespeare’s Falstaff once said:

“Discretion is the better part of valor.”

In other words, let your daily pursuits be guided by good judgment. And perhaps the most important message to keep in mind — because it literally dictates everything else, every word and every action, is that every behavior is the result of a choice that we make or that we once made. So if everything we say and do today is a choice, then why choose to make things hard on yourself when you can just as easily choose to make them easy, including how and when you deal with others.

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Keep your head cool and your feet warm

God Bless You and thanks for your visit!

OPEN MINDS OPEN DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!
hal@businessworks.US

How to Run a Successful

Coaching Business from Home:

Life Beyond The Cubicle

by Peggy Salvatore

This is re-posted from Evercoach (11/18/15), with thanks to Ajit Nawalkha and the Evercoach team.

Did corporate mergers and acquisitions leave you out in the world to fend for yourself? That’s great! You’ve already got the personal discipline and structure to succeed on your own.

Coaches and consultants fresh from inside a large organization have a lot to offer new clients. You have a depth of experience and knowledge that only your years in the hallowed halls of a corporate enterprise can provide.

This could be the start of something big.

At first, you might find the cubicle-less-ness of your world gives you a feeling of freedom that is more illusory than real. If a large company isn’t imposing a schedule on you, you need to do it for yourself to realize your full potential.

As a self-employed businesswoman, I have been able to garden when the weather is lovely on Tuesday at 10 a.m., take walks at 2:30 in the afternoon just to stretch and enjoy the sunshine, attend school functions in the middle of the day to see my son perform in a toga, go to a yoga class two mornings a week and even disappear for long weekends. So, I’m here to tell you that yes, it’s possible to work from Maui and enjoy the view of the beach as long as you remember you are running a business to pay for it.

Here are 10 tips for running a coaching business

from home that separate the pros from the posers:

1) Set aside dedicated office space

• Make this space every bit as free from personal artifacts as your corporate cubicle. Pics of the spouse and kids are okay, but put the toy box in another room.
• The sooner you can get out of the corner of your bedroom and into a professional room of your own, the better. You can write off your home office space as long as you aren’t using a desk and computer that you share with your kids in the family room; talk to your accountant.

2) Update your equipment and software

• You are your own tech department now.
• Make sure you are running the programs and have the applications that your customers and clients are using. You don’t want to be frivolous with your spending during your startup, but this is a very good place to be investing your limited funds in your home business.
• Consider upgrades as an ongoing business expense. Again, this is the cost of doing business so keep receipts for your accountant.

3) Make a daily schedule and stick to it

• Block out a big, uninterrupted chunk of time each day to do your most demanding and important work.
• Then limit emails to a specific time slot and don’t get sucked into all-day IM sessions with your besties.

4) Get dressed for work

• Nothing elaborate here. You can leave grandma’s diamond earrings in their box, but go to the trouble to put on a clean shirt and jeans in the spirit of dress-down Friday.
• It affects your attitude and reminds you that you aren’t on vacation.
• Your office should be a no-jammie zone to keep your head in the game. (Although I’ll admit I’ve reported to work sick or exhausted in my jammies a few times!)

5) Close the office door at the end of the day

• Take time to enjoy uninterrupted family dinnertime or personal time.
• Physically closing a door defines a mental boundary, too. So shut the door and mentally punch out when your work is through.

6) Network locally

• There’s nothing like human contact to keep you grounded.
• Regularly get out of your home office and stay connected to other professionals. If you work by yourself, make sure you network so you can look into some else’s eyeballs occasionally and to stay current with trends and best practices.
• Take a class. Join a local professional organization. Regularly schedule networking time with colleagues.

7) Connect online

• Attend professional webinars to stay current in your field.
• Join LinkedIn groups or professional forums related to coaching. Connect and learn from other professionals by participating in masterminds.
• The opportunity to learn from other coaches and trainers at the top of their game has never been easier. Take full advantage of it.

8) Hire caregivers

• Hire a babysitter if you are responsible for young kids during the workday. This reminds you that you are at work and earning a living, especially when paying for child care. Extend this to caring for very ill family members.
• As a client, there is nothing more annoying than realizing that the attention, care and time that you are paying for is divided between you and a three year old who wants more Cheerios.

9) Be flexible

• You may have to work 24/7 in the global economy. Restricting your day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in your time zone is probably unrealistic if you need to respond to a client five time zones away.
• In the global economy “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere”.
• This rule isn’t in conflict with Rule #5, but an expansion of it. Rules and boundaries are good for keeping yourself on a schedule, but adjusting to your clients’ needs is even better.

I’ve trained online classes with a German company from my home office in the Eastern U.S. and it required some flexibility on my part. I’ve also facilitated classes in a nursing home at midnight because the third shift deserves stress management skills as much- or more!- as day shift. It doesn’t happen every day, but my business calls on me to meet the needs of a global 24/7 workforce.

10) Pay for professional services

• Make a few wise investments in your business by paying for accounting and legal services.
• Accountants and lawyers understand tax rules and good contract language for agreements. In many cases, you will only use their services a few times or once a year, but it is money well spent.
• A good accountant who specializes in small business can tell you about important tax write-offs and help you make good decisions about whether to buy or lease equipment, the best allocation of retirement savings and other advice that will save you far more than you spend. A lawyer can help you write good contract language for getting paid and for defining your relationships with your clients.

Starting your own successful coaching business takes discipline and time to transition from a conventional job. However, with a little planning you will find that it is worth the effort to put some rules and structure around your new enterprise.

When you establish a few boundaries, your personal life will benefit from the freedom you have on your time off, and your clients will benefit from your undivided attention during your working hours.

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MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Click on “About Peggy” tab above

peggy@businessworks.US

WAKE  UP  AMERICA!

Reveillez-vous, les Etats-Unis!

An open letter to Republican presidential hopefuls

[Opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author, Hal Alpiar]

The Bible tells us that there is a time for everything. For America,
with the agony of Paris in our rearview mirror. . . that time is NOW!

As a lifelong small business coach and advocate, my perspective of economic recovery is borne of the fact that small business provides the underpinnings of a strong economy. By over-taxing, over-regulating, intervening and meddling with private enterprise, by discouraging innovation and job creation, by pretending to have entrepreneurship savvy, our government is killing our economy.

Is this a political stance? No. You undoubtedly know I speak reality because each of you has in one way or another already expressed this viewpoint. Clearly, they are indisputable facts.

So what’s the connection? You care about what just happened in Paris, or you wouldn’t have read past the first line. Government failure to grow the economy illustrates the same kind of purposeful ignorance —an inexcusable refusal— to confront the relentless reality of Islamic terrorism.

What, sadly, could be more proof positive than the ISIS violence than just showed its ugly face in Paris? You need to step up in a way that’s meaningful, that makes a difference. Solo speeches don’t cut it! It’s nice to express your feelings, but while speeches and interviews may win votes, they don’t win results.

Beyond any doubt, ISIS poses a real and serious and immediate threat to every American’s life, family, values, and community. So NOW is the time to act!

Here is my proposal for a rallying-cry

Action Plan strategy to imagine and think about:

Imagine that somehow each of you agrees to put aside your personal and campaign differences and your individual egos for the couple of hours it might take to join one another at the front gates of The White House (with only a last-minute tip-off to the media). Then, you request a spontaneous and urgent audience with Messrs. Obama and Biden and Kerry to make your collective points for urging immediate and specific action steps that need to be taken NOW:

1) Steps to preserve and protect America’s families and towns and cities NOW (not after the next election)!

2) Steps to lead promptly to the complete defeat of ISIS NOW (not after some other—closer-to-home—mass slaughter)!

This will require the politically-unthinkable of having to individually rise above the fray and put your personal agendas and commercialized candidacies on hold long enough to join in lockstep with each other – to demonstrate genuine leadership to those you aspire to represent and to the rest of the world.

Real leaders nurture and weigh the input of other leaders. In this case, by physically standing together (as you have on the debate stage) you will serve an important purpose by representing the concerns en masse of all American citizens.

In the possibility that Messrs. Obama, Biden and Kerry cannot or will not be available, that choice makes it clear to the public the inappropriateness and insensitivity of their priorities, and instead you can each deliver your 5-minute (UN-political) position statement to the media people who show up, while standing at The White House gates.

You will individually also benefit personally by keeping your focus on communicating action solutions (each perhaps taking 5 minutes).

Consider the range of positive impressions that can benefit each and all of you in this scenario. Though you shouldn’t need any added incentive, my best guess is that if this is done “correctly,” it will also serve to completely eliminate any Democratic candidacy in the minds of voters. You can then all be free to re-ignite your individual campaign efforts after making such an innovative and unprecedented effort.

And, hopefully, your unified appearance and purpose will produce some concrete actions and rallying-point results.

Just some thoughts I hope you will each consider.

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Keep your head cool and your feet warm . . . and thanks for your visit!

OPEN MINDS OPEN DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!
hal@businessworks.US

Take a QUICK step back.

Take a DEEP breath. 

 Take stock of your SELF.

If your business is your life, you are obviously not in academia, not a corporate type, and not some government flunky. Only true entrepreneurs make their businesses their lives. And only true entrepreneurs need a crowbar to separate the two. This is good and bad. Good because you increase the odds that your business will succeed. Bad because–in the process–you increase the odds that you, the person, may not  succeed.

You need a “HOW GOES IT?” meeting

with your SELF — now, today, tonight, at

sunset, or tomorrow morning at sunrise!

You need to not make excuses for delaying it. At the rate government continues to ravage America’s 30 million small businesses, you cannot afford to go past this coming weekend. I know, I know, you have a family deal coming . . . you have to charge your iPad . . . your dog pushed you into stepping where you should have scooped . . . it’s your only chance to see  Lady Gaga . . . there’s a Shark Tank special . . . it’s year-end something or other . . .  it’s . . . STOP! Take some deep breaths.

This is not a half-baked suggestion to do some fancy inventory of your customers, branding program or finances, though it’s hard to do too much of that. This is an informal step-back-out-of-the-woods assessment point in time which successful entrepreneurs with healthy businesses make a habit of practicing every couple of months (at least quarterly).

• Start with a quiet place where you will not be interrupted for two hours by cell phones, radio or TV reception, machinery, other people or barking dogs. (Sunrises are great!) Walk on the beach, through the woods or in a quiet park . . . or just sit parked in your car, but –given today’s day and age– remember to not “look suspicious.” 😉 Bring a pen and notepad (NO keyboards or keypads!).

• Write down one single sentence that best describes where your business is right now. Follow that with another sentence that best describes where you are right now — physically, mentally, emotionally. Be honest. It’s just for your brain. No one else need ever see this piece of paper.

• Next , write one single sentence that best describes where you believe it’s possible to take your business within the next six months. Follow that sentence with another one that best describes where you believe it’s possible to take your SELF (physically, mentally, emotionally) within the next six months.

• Spend the next hour studying these four sentences and diagramming HOW (the process; the steps) you think you need to take to get from one to the other, and HOW you see them coming together or interdependent on one another. Then write down the three action steps you’re willing to take right now (AS you review your diagram) to get started moving from where you are to where you’re headed. Prioritize them.

_________________________

Two hours out of your life that will positively improve your life (and your business) and you just saved all that business consultant and psychotherapy money.

You can be your own best shrink! (Unless you choose to put off having a “HOW GOES IT?” session with yourself —  in which case, the couple a hundred bucks an hour fees will probably be a worthy investment.)

_________________________

P.S. When you get good at this process, start introducing it in your “big picture” work with employees and key customers. Everybody loves having the opportunity to participate in doing positive attitude-focused diagnostic workups and developing treatment plans aimed at improving work options and customer service performance.

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Keep your head cool and your feet warm . . . and thanks for your visit!

OPEN MINDS OPEN DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

hal@businessworks.US

BLOWING  OFF  STEAM

Is For Steam Irons & Engines,

Man-Holes & Rock Star Stage Crews

“Hot Head” behaviors have no place in the workplace (including offices, vehicles, locker rooms, sport facilities, or military missions). Why? Because –besides the increased odds of someone getting hurt– it’s a useless waste of energy that deals with something that is in the past (longer than a second ago!) or the future (more than a second away!).

The past and the future are both fantasy.

This exact split second moment as you’re reading this is the only reality. If what you’re upset with is older than a second, it’s over and you can’t do anything about it. If it’s more than a second away, it hasn’t come yet and may never come. [If any of that creates commotion for your brain, you may want to read this paragraph one more time.]

This is not to say that any time, anger or upset feelings get the best of you that you need to be jacketed directly to the nearest psycho ward. It DOES mean that you need to do a better job of self-control by keeping your mind 100% in the present moment every passing moment as much as you possibly can when you do feel your tolerance level dissipating — or be prepared to face the consequences of losing your job, relationships and others’ trust.

Being a hot head is nothing to

 have cold feet about dealing with!

And this is experience talking, because I have done all of the above at different times in my life, including yelling in an office and banging locker room doors, and making the mistake of dismissing the idea that it mattered. Of course it matters. Leave emotional eruption behaviors to Hollywood where people are paid to pretend.

In case this line of thought strikes you as easier said than done, it’s not! Self-control –even under fire– is really quite simple to achieve in (could anything be more descriptive than what my father used to say): “Two shakes of a lamb’s tail!” if you are willing to own up to the fact that making it happen is worthwhile and that it is, in fact, your choice.

It’s useful to remember that all of your behavior is the result of your choice, or the result of a choice you once made . . . and that if you really want to change, change is a choice!

Okay, so what’s the magic answer? No magic! Just some increased awareness of what triggers your upset feelings and then doing something that you do every minute of your life in a slightly more pronounced way. That’s it. You’ve read this far and want the quick free (no-sales-pitch/no-gimmicks) steps that will work for you right this minute? TAKE THESE STEPS NOW

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Keep your head cool and your feet warm . . . and thanks for your visit!

OPEN MINDS OPEN DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

hal@businessworks.US

“MATTER” Matters!

In just this past week, without even trying, and with minimal exposure to advertising, I’ve seen or heard the following:

• Black Lives Matter!
• Police Lives Matter!
• All Lives Matter!
• People Matter! (Sub shop chain)
• Dog Food Matters! (Pet store chain)
• Your Gums Matter! (Plaque removal products)
• Protect What Matters! (Life insurance company)
• Kids Matter! (Goat farm sign)
• Your Package Matters! (Delivery service)
• We’re There When It Matters! (cellphone service)

And surely Firefighters Matter and EMTs Matter and Doctors and Nurses Matter. And what about animals and fish and birds and trees and plants and oceans and mountains? Can there be any doubt that Children Matter? Or Pets? How about Grandparents? Teachers? Scholars? Boy Scouts? Girl Scouts? Athletes? And then there’s Hollywood people and Politicians? (Wellllll, the jury is still out on those two).

What about Artists, Writers, and Musicians?  And Tan people? Pink people? Albino people? Yellow people? Green people? Polka-dotted people? Purple people? Handicapped people? Poor people? Rich people? Sad people? Happy people? Developmentally-disabled people? Babies?

Where does it end? Or does it?

Will “Matter(s)” be this generation’s buzzword version of “Where’s The Beef?”

Are scientists now gathering from around the world to launch their new “happening” slogan?

MATTER MATTERS!

Do we really want to go back thousands of years and pronounce that Cavemen Matter?

And there is no doubt whatsoever that ENTREPRENEURS MATTER . . . because—without them and their creations—the rest of global society would have very little to point to by way of missions accomplished.

Instead of simply choosing to accept the bottom line– that if you are a human being, a creature or planet creation, YOU matter(!)— it seems we have been instead choosing to lose trust and confidence in ourselves and buy into the implied exceptionalism of which lives matter, with the implication that no others do!

Unfortunately, stampedes are rarely stopped before innocents are trampled. But at some point each of us needs to simply stand tall, look in the mirror, and proclaim to ourselves:

I  MATTER.

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Tune in here starting Tuesday, the day after Labor Day, to read and contribute comments to short DAILY excerpts from Peggy Salvatore’s new book, 30 DAYS TO A NEW ECONOMY for 30 weekdays in a row! Free. No strings attached. Why?
Because YOU Matter!

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Hal@Businessworks.US    931.854.0474

America Needs

Entrepreneurial Leadership

It’s time for another Teddy Roosevelt/Harry Truman/Ronald Reagan to step up to America’s leadership challenge. History has shown us that “more of the same” leadership style following in the “too big for your boots” footprints left behind by prior leadership has produced either a false sense of progress and security, a lethargic aura, and/or a cavernous hole “too big for the planet’s britches.”

The days of corporate, governmental and politician “muckity-mucks” and their analysis paralysis approach to problem solving have long passed. This is 2015 and “We the people” can no longer endure those we elect to represent our interests wrongfully.

As a country and as American citizens, we simply cannot any longer tolerate elected representatives of the thinking that literally stomps on and casually pushes aside adhering to the very tenets of the Constitution that has made America great . . . the same feeble-minded political-payoff-and-payback representatives who then proceed to excuse their behaviors with shoulder shrugs and palms-raised declarations that “I tried! And, besides, it’s someone else’s fault!”

We are far beyond the point of receptivity we’ve naively granted to those who challenge and undermine our Constitution.

We are long past acceptance of those who see fit to substitute their own delusional self-indulgent needs in exchange for that which binds and ensures us of the rights to freedom of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We are weary of the lies, deceit, blame, second-guessing, unresponsiveness, societal repression, citizenship indignity, false-alarms, and global disrespect that now shrouds our nation.

So where can we turn for restoration, reconciliation, and re-kindling of spirit?

Let’s consider the perceptive, “say-it-like-it-is” and “Git R Done!” attitude of an entrepreneur. Let’s face it: we have no other worthwhile choice at this point in history — not if we are serious about the survival of our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

Small business owners and managers understand this need to untangle ourselves perhaps best of all. It’s called adaptability, tackling priorities, turning problems into opportunities, moving forward– entrepreneurial leadership! Business owners and operators who fail to do this, fail.

The truth behind the old expression: “Words do not cook rice” is something every entrepreneurial thinker/doer knows from experience. Certainly our Congress (and, in varying degrees, every government agency) fails to understand that revitalization time is here. Now. There can be no better nor more effective force to drive the realization of filling this need than a proven entrepreneur, one with the fortitude and courage to walk the talk.

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Hal@Businessworks.US    931.854.0474