“That which does 

 not cause my death,

    increases my strength!”

— Samuel Johnson or Frederich Nietzsche in the mid-late 1800’s

     It really doesn’t matter who said it or when. What matters is that entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial thinkers need to take heed now. Why? Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial thinkers are often thought to be over-acting “drama queens” because they rarely worry about hiding their emotions. They tend to become excited about anything and everything that leads to forward movement of their “burning desire” idea.

     And, yes, these same enthusiasts will also over-react to negative news about anything that impedes the progress of making their idea work.

     If you fit this description, or if you work or live with someone who does— lo and behold!– you can actually make a difference in the equation!

     It’s called REALITY. A good strong does of reality will take away any pain, any upset, and tendency to engage in analysis paralysis. Being realistic is, after all, the key ingredient of five essential criteria that define effective goal-setting and successful goal-pursuit.

     REALITY is a slippery piece of soap for many even thought they may honor its value. Reality has a way of turning quickly to fantasy whenever things don’t seem to be going right.

     It is, after all, much easier to get “lost” in fantasyland than it is to “shape up” mentally or physically or emotionally to the point of being able to most effectively deal with what’s right in front of your face.

     But, alas, this was why breathing was invented, don’t you think? Every breath– like every heartbeat and pulse throb– has the ability to put us in touch with reality . . . with what’s going on this very split second . . . vs. past (more than a few seconds old, over which we have no control and cannot change even if we want to), and future (more than a few seconds ahead of the air and space and mindset we are in at this exact split second, and which, of course, may never happen anyway).

     So, bottom line: no need to fret. Just pay attention to your SELF. When you begin to feel upset, choose to focus your attention on your heartbeat or pulse, pinch yourself, take a deep breath, then get back to dealing with the next incoming immediate split second of your life. Let go of what’s over and what hasn’t come. Stay with where you are this minute. It COULD make a difference for you between a headache or backache or an ulcer or or heart attack or stroke. And if it does, consider how much stronger it has made you, or makes you this very next breath and, hopefully, the many more to follow.

# # #

Hal@Businessworks.US   931.854.0474

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

STOP Hoping and Wishing.

STOP Analyzing and Trying.

 Just get the damn job done.

  Today. NOW. . .This minute!

You’re an entrepreneur or an entrepreneurial thinker. If you weren’t one or the other, you wouldn’t be reading this.

So, straight out, here’s the bottom line: The work you’re doing now in your life (as goes the old advertising expression goes) “ain’t your father’s Oldsmobile.” What you’re doing now (or want to be doing) is not likely to be the boring office or hard labor or high-stress job that you grew up hearing about.

This also means that the days of analysis paralysis that evolved from corporate mindsets is gone.  The age of putting in long hours and working up a sweat every day doing physical labor or mind-numbing assembly line work, or some high-stress (air traffic control, e.g.) job to eke out a living, pay the avalanche of bills, and put food on the table, are not for you . . . cut your own path.

You want a better life. You have some great ideas, but –instead of making them work– you’re wasting time trying to make them work.

You cannot afford to drag your feet. You cannot afford to worry about every detail. You cannot afford to be wasting so much time.

Problems will solve themselves if you just get off your ass and get moving. Some action is always better than no action! But don’t trip over your own face!

Speaking of “buts,” remember that the “Yes, but’s” and the “Maybe, buts” run circles in the woods with the rabbuts, and (aside from an occasional carrot) never get anywhere of any consequence.

The hardest part of marching forward to success is the marching. Many give up with, or even before, the first step. And many who get that far tend to lose the drive to go further because they lose the vision or perspective or finances or connections to keep marching forward.

Sustaining initial startup energy once you’ve designed or developed or invented or introduced or found a market niche for your product or service can feel impossible. But it’s really not . . . unless you choose for it to be.

Consider that all behavior is a choice –conscious or unconscious, made now or in the past– and that many people surrounding our lives every day are doing their best (often unaware) to sidetrack the entrepreneurial thoughts and pursuits of others because success may threaten their investments in the status quo.

Others –especially friends and family– may simply (and often without realizing it) not want to see you succeed. They may feel threatened by what they perceive as your stardom. Jealousy is not always something we are aware of, but it is right up there on every measure of emotional spectrum leaders.

Think about what you’re choosing to do that’s actually holding you back. What can you change? How will you do that?

It may be in your best interests to try taking some deep breaths before trying to answer those two questions.

You might next explore ways to stop making excuses, to stop blaming others and circumstances, and –instead– take some steps on your own behalf. “What’s the worst thing could happen?” is a good question to ask yourself. If there are no legalities, or physical or emotional harm involved: Go For It!  

# # #

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

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

Hal@Businessworks.US         931.854.0474

Guidance to 500+ Successful Business Startups

Creating Record-Sales for Clients Since 1981!

Business Decision Time:

COMPRESSION or EXPANSION?

Sometimes it’s a clear-cut conscious decision. Other times, it’s like deciding to eat more or eat less depending on your mood, the notches on your belt and what’s put on the table in front of you.

But the bottom line is that –in business–  while many factors and variables need to be weighed, too much time is often wasted deliberating, which serves to host that dreaded government disease: “Analysis Paralysis” . . . where nothing ever gets done, or even decided.

When you look carefully at the downside possibilities of either a business expansion or compression option (vs. potential rewards) –and determine that the risk involved is reasonable— AND when you see a clear path for taking a first step: take the damn first step!

If it doesn’t seem to be working as you imagined, make adjustments — to the path and/or your imagination.

Change The Towel!

Are you convinced the direction is right? Whether you answer yes or no (unless you see insurmountable financial or legal odds stacking up), don’t be so quick to throw in the towel when something goes awry. Instead, change the towel!

What do you learn from listening (which needs to be 80% of the time) to what your existing and prospective customers say about the towel? What’s their take on the changes you make in product or service or facility or staff or pricing or value?

Take away what you hear and learn and adjust the size, and/or the shape, and/or the color, and/or the consistency . . . then take a second step.

“Nobody counts

the number of ads you run;

they just remember

the impression you make.”

— William Bernbach, All-Time Madison Avenue Ad Agency Guru

[With special thanks for the reminder and source to @DigitalShawn on Twitter]

And get yourself in stride for what may turn out to be an endless road of adjustments. While government decision-makers (and competitors of the same mindset) assess and evaluate and review and consensus- seek and never move forward, you can be light-years ahead.

Go for it! It’s all a matter of choice. And the choice to stand still, or to shrink or expand your business is always yours! Don’t belabor it. Be FEARLESS! Trust yourself.

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

Higher impact. Lower costs.

——————-

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

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

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

Don’t trip over your own face!

7 Thoughts to Stimulate Your

Small Business Breakthrough Now

Sometimes in our hurry to the finish line, we become obsessively focused on our destination and crumble into a helpless heap that competitors simply hop or step over as they race past. How can we best avoid this common catastrophe? Here’s some of what I’ve learned:

1. Even if you’re on the one-yard line, STOP seeing yourself dancing around the goalpost. Pay attention instead to your feet. Zone your brain into the immediate breath you are taking, right now, right this very moment of high expectation. Expectations, let us remember, breed disappointment. SOLUTION: Paying attention to your inhale and exhale forces you to concentrate on and make the most of every passing moment AS IT HAPPENS!

2. When your mind is in the “here and now,” there’s no room for dwelling on past attempts that failed or for worrying about future events.There is only the present moment. And that present moment is where you excel! Isn’t it? Of course it is. Think about it.

3. Excuses don’t cut it! Trying to explain your way out of failure that occurred because you lost contact with your present-moment breathing? That simply wastes more present precious-life moments.

4. It doesn’t hurt to constructively review and assess how you went wrong, but it hurts deeply when you choose to let your mind wander off into a place of dwelling on what happened and what you should have done. SOLUTION: Instead, take some deep breaths. Reconnect with the here and now . . . what you are actually doing. And move forward.

5. The pervasive problem with academia thought patterns that all of us are taught from grade school through PhD studies is the enormous resistance to truth and reality — the pursuit of what I’ve often called “analysis paralysis” that so embodies and emboldens the ranting and raving of so many unrealistic faculty ranks that blanket our campuses, and unfortunately tend even to infiltrate elementary school innocence.

6. More time and energy is wasted trying to figure out approaches to problem situations (based on history, available data, Past performances, new analytics, etc.) instead of simply approaching problem situations, recognizing them as opportunities, taking action, and making adjustments. What difference does it make “who did what when” if you’re confronted with the need to survive. Many don’t realize it and many dismiss the reality, but my educated best guess is that most small business enterprises are in a constant state of needing to survive. SOLUTION: Even if you’re not one, think like an entrepreneur!

7. The face of your business is what the world sees. It’s what you show others all day every day. How can you expect to be in touch with the impressions you make on others when you are consumed with what you did or didn’t do yesterday or immobilized by worrying over what tomorrow will bring? SOLUTION: Look in the mirror and talk to yourself more. Remind yourself of the real you — what’s in your gut. Then work harder, not smarter!

Concentrate on what you are doing each moment as much as you possibly can, and work at returning your mind there as often as you can. Deep breathing helps. Being committed to exhilarating customers instead of just “satisfying” them helps. When you pay attention to where your feet are and not the finish line, you’ll achieve more, more often, and avoid tripping over your own face.

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

Higher impact. Lower costs.

——————-

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

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

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!

A Practice Axiom of Entrepreneurship…

“HOW” Something Happens

  is far more important than

  Who, What, When, Where, or Why

The histrionics of analytics is paralyzing corporate growth. With steadily increasing regularity, analysis paralysis has been squashing the very heartbeat of big business since the onset of the computer age.

The only differences I see between analytics now and the 1990s are speed and depth. But getting quick, more complete answers to the who, what, when, where, and why doesn’t turn problems into opportunities, and in fact radically impedes the very essence of progress and innovation.

Entrepreneurs recognize instinctively that the time spent trying to “get to the bottom of things” literally stops forward motion with a thud! And, to an entrepreneur, nothing is more important than taking her or his idea onward and upward. Nothing. Certainly not slow-motion replays in perpetuity. It’s all about TRUST. Entrepreneurs trust themselves and they trust their ideas.

Getting on with it is the gnawing desire

behind every entrepreneurial venture.

Try it. Adjust it. Try it. Adjust it. Try it.

Adjust it. Try it again. Adjust it again…

Who cares about who, what, when, where, or why except maybe a detective or investigative journalist? The answer (my best guess!) is only those whose careers are politically driven and who seek to justify their existences above all other pursuits. That nails it to (I believe) the vast majority of government managers and corporate executives, and all politicians. The clues: Big-grip handshakes, fake smiles, and eyes always fixed on the next rung up.

Successful entrepreneurs have a burning, passionate desire to see their ideas succeed. They live to achieve their ideas, not to make money, not to become famous, not to get promoted, not to grow their benefit packages, not to appease their bosses, not to retire, not to party, not to gamble, not to take unreasonable risks… and not to one-up their co-workers, neighbors, friends, or in-laws. Each has “a better idea” and winning acceptance for that idea is the fuel for the fire.

“Yeah, sounds good,” I’ve been told by numerous representatives of all three oppressed career arenas, “but we are the ones who get the jobs done, who make the markets, who spend the big bucks and create the jobs that grow the economy.” Sorry folks. You’re way off base. You don’t really do any of the above, except spend, which I might add, doesn’t take much brainpower. Small business creates the jobs, makes the markets, and stimulates the economy. Period.

Some entrepreneurial advice for government, corporate, and political spenders: Regardless of whether your perspective is manufacturing, operational, creative, sales, administrative or customer service, STOP WASTING TIME, ENERGY, AND MONEY analyzing every ounce of minutia trying to uncover who did what to whom under what circumstances and choose instead to focus on the process of what’s happening and how to make it better . . . Git R Done!

# # #

 Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US  or comment below.

 SUCCESS IS THE JOURNEY

. . . NOT THE DESTINATION. 

 It’s entrepreneurial leadership, not the goal!

Losers lack it. Winners exude it. Ask the successful people you know. They will tell you that the most sensible route to organizational success is one that engages and focuses on the passionate pursuit of “here and now” present-moment thinking, instead of dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. VOILA! “Entrepreneurial Leadership.”

Do you sometimes wonder what Barnes & Noble is thinking on it’s way to the Borders graveyard by insisting on following an archaic business model that is completely out of touch with today’s technology and marketplace? Do you wonder why the Post Office’s solution to high expenses is to close on Saturdays, lay off employees and pull in pick-up boxes off the sidewalks?

And why does a nonprofit charity mail out fundraiser letters with “2013 Supporter” car magnets that literally fade to invisibility after a day in the sun? What makes the rampant “GOTCHA” greed of so many cable TV, insurance and telephone service providers completely override the wishes and best interests of the customers they serve?

The answer to these –and any other examples you may be prompted to think about– is the same. It is wrapped around societal acceptance of the need to pursue “the end result” at all costs. It is mired deep in the thinking that popularizes “analysis paralysis” as a characterization. It is the antithesis of innovation, and of entrepreneurial thinking and leadership.

“But winning is the American way!,” you may say. Indeed it is. But just because it’s the most desirable mantra for sports and military performances, doesn’t mean it’s the right way for business or life. If anything, it’s probably as far off base as any guideline could be. No business or life flourishes when it is completely devoted to reaching the goal line. None.

Think about it. When you’re running a race and concentrating on the finish line, you stop paying attention to what’s happening at the present moment right in front of you, right under your feet, and -SMASH!- you trip and fall on your face.  Competitors of course will hop over and around you. Winners pay attention to each step AS they take each step.

Entrepreneurial leaders nurture and thrive on the present moment. Something doesn’t work? They don’t analyze the malfunction to death. They simply adjust it and keep moving forward, and adjust it again and again in the process of constantly moving forward (vs. analyzing instant and slow motion replays again and again and going nowhere)!

Entrepreneurial leaders don’t worry about goals. They have goals, but they simply pursue them by staying tuned in to where they are, each step of the way. Like any malfunction, if the goal isn’t being reached as planned or hoped for, they adjust it. Inflexible or unrealistic, or nonspecific goals are as totally meaningless as wishes.

It’s HOW you do what you do each day that determines success. HOW do you handle staying on top of the process and the interactions? Isn’t that hard? Of course it is. The challenge is to be forever on the alert to opportunities, and that’s impossible for those who are thinking or worrying too much about where they’re headed, and for those lost in the clouds of constantly re-hashing where things have been.

Successful entrepreneurial leaders are also HAPPY leaders because they function as much of the time as possible in the present, here-and-now moment. And, like success, happiness is also “The Journey”! Do you make an effort to function each day in the here-and-now present moment as much as possible? Try it. You’ll like it.

# # #

STOP

“Thinking

   Like A Leader”!

“Thinking like a leader” may get you some pats on the back. Perhaps a few “Hey, Man, he really thinks like a leader!” comments. But leaders who are serious about the pursuit of their missions and the exercising of leadership to motivate others to get where they’re going, are those who are completely invested in BEING leaders.

BEING a leader means getting results through others instead of thinking or talking about getting results.

Of course leaders need to plan. But having a plan is like getting your foot in the door. Worrying about which way to go once you’re inside, doesn’t make the mission happen. Taking steps does. And as a true entrepreneur would respond, if the first few steps aren’t working, take steps in a different direction . . . and then again.

You will almost always get where you’re going faster by moving than if you were to sit still and analyze each direction because the momentum alone will fuel your pursuit. Not happy with that, huh? You don’t like thrashing your way through the jungle just to find out you missed the path? You need your analytical fix?

Okay, go for it, but limit it and target it to make the most of where you’ve been. After all:

HOW ARE YOU GOING

TO GET WHERE YOU’RE GOING

IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU’VE BEEN? 

Make it a quick review (not analysis paralysis!). The relevant past is useful to every leader because it can be an invaluable tool for learning from past mistakes and past success, true? So do it. Review it. Then take it –like a football game handoff– and run! The past is over and will not change. And dwelling on the past is a waste of the present.

What’s the rush? Motivating others takes momentum which requires timely and accurate communications. Timely and accurate communications dissolve rapidly when too much time and attention is devoted to past and future thinking. But both gather speed as the leader sparks and ignites. BEING an effective leader means taking action and teaching by example.

“Thoughts” I am told by psychologist friends, are “Things.” But “Things” are not “Actions.”

Leaders Act.

 # # #

So, you think you know

who you are, huh? Really?

Entrepreneurial Leaders are responsive (instead of reactive). They take reasonable risks (which means they don’t bet the farm, or even buy lottery tickets!). They are goal-driven, but focus more on the steps to reach the goal. When something doesn’t work, they make adjustments and try again (vs. corporate/government thinking that produces analysis paralysis!)

Guess what the number one ingredient is in entrepreneurial leadership — any kind, any level (from running a company to running a work crew or department, to running a family or sports team)? It’s knowing yourself. Your SELF. Because unless you know what makes YOU tick, you can never know what makes others tick.

When you don’t know what makes others tick, you’ll never be able to communicate clearly with them . . . because they do NOT think like you think even if you think they do. They don’t. You are unique. No one else has your brain. No one else can reach inside your brain and control it because every one of your behaviors is your choice!

So, are you still with me? If that little bit of awareness is true for you, it is equally true for each person who follows you. To be truly effective as an entrepreneurial leader (as opposed to a robotic leader!), doesn’t mean you have to be a shrink. It means you have to accept that everyone does not think like you, and you need to do your best to figure out what makes them tick.

Just because you may think you’ve “been around the block a few times,” that you’ve “been there, done that and got the t-shirt” doesn’t mean you can dismiss the need to keep learning about yourself and others because these are different times. What worked for you before is not likely to work again for you without some kind of adjustment.

The place to start adjusting, then, is with how, when, and where you absorb new information. Just as you and your life are constantly changing (even, and usually, when you least expect it or are aware of it), so too are the lives of those who look to you for guidance. I’m not suggesting you become a Google-aholic psych student. Just keep yourself alert. Observe. Listen.

Keeping up with all of that is challenging. But isn’t that why you took the job or accepted the responsibility in the first place?

# # #

ENTREPRENEURIAL

TRIAL-AND-ERROR

BEATS CORPORATE

ANALYTICS!

Small business owners and operators invariably run their businesses –and practice human resource, industry/profession, and community leadership– by trial and error. The trade-off for not following all the latest corporate mumbo-jumbo leadership trends and fads, and time-consuming “time-proven” techniques is instantaneous adjustment.

That translates into what Grandpa always used to say was the most desirable of all business traits: “being able to turn on a dime.” Of course Grandpa ran a five and ten-cent store and could hardly have known that in 2012, no one would much care about a meager dime. It won’t even make a phone call or (Thanks to Starbucks) pay for a cup of coffee anymore.

Only by being able to ‘turn on a dime,’ or ‘shift gears quickly,’ can a business adapt to rapid market changes without skipping a beat. This, of course, may not be so critical an asset for an insurance broker, as for a retailer… or for a repair shop, as it might be for web design or writing services, as just a couple of examples.”

Nonetheless, all the big-time, extravagant methods that corporate muckity-mucks use to justify their existences with overkill assessment processes –from weeks worth of focus groups to statistical analysis paralysis— don’t add up to anything close to what can be achieved with the entrepreneurial respond-adjust/trial-and-error method.

This is not to suggest that all leadership decisions should be seat-of-0the-pants, knee-jerk, shoot-from-the-hip reactions. It is rather to say that the amount of time it takes to plan and analyze every step tends to be proportionally related to failed decision making.

Leaders lead by leading.

No one was ever a successful business leader who spent inordinate amounts of time and energy studying past actions and events, and then planning and worrying about the future.

What separates entrepreneurial success from corporate lethargy is acting out possibilities on the spot, making adjustments on the fly, taking reasonable risks, and living most of the time in the present, here-and-now moment.

Entrepreneurs are invested in making their ideas work, instead of covering their butts and justifying decisions.

Trial and error may produce some black and blue bruises along the way, and probably a great many more than your big-business counterpart will encounter while slogging along through the white shirt and tie quagmire. When the focus is here and now, there’s no time to dwell on errors or worry about where you’re going.

Flexible goals? Yes! Stifling long-term plans? No! . . . Think it. Try it. Do it. Adjust it. Do it again. Make it happen.

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Hal@Businessworks.US Thanks for visiting and God Bless You! 

If the past sits in judgment

of the present,

will  the future be lost?

I heard a twist of this (the headline above) on the radio recently. I can’t tell you when or where or who, but it rang a bell. Is it just my imagination or do we too often –in life and in business– get ourselves caught up in over-analyzing what went wrong and what went right in order to decide what we should be doing today? Some of my earlier posts called it ANALYSIS PARALYSIS.

Contrary to many popular beliefs, over-analyzing is not a symptom of entrepreneurship.

We live (men especially) in an analytical world. We watch instant TV sports replays in slow motion and stop action in order to know down deep in our souls whether the ball actually touched the ground before it was caught, or while it was caught, or after it was caught. I mean, like who could possibly sleep without a satisfying answer to that nagging question?

Probably, an entrepreneur. Okay, well, there are entrepreneurs and there are psychopreneurs!

Those who are unfortunate enough to have to make a living working for the government or some mega corporation probably spend half their careers taking apart research reports and study findings looking for clues about what happened or didn’t happen last month, last quarter, last year, last decade . . . in order to adjust a present course of action.

Entrepreneurs make adjustments on the fly. If they’re wrong, they adjust the adjustment and try again.

Most corporate and government managers, for instance, weigh risks then use analytics to justify not taking them. Who in their right mind, for example, would want to make waves that could topple the corporate ladder she or he is climbing?

Entrepreneurs take reasonable risks (which rarely if ever includes climbing political ladders). Entrepreneurs will bet their profits, but they won’t bet their farms. They will start a new side business, but they won’t visit casinos or stuff their pockets with lottery tickets — those are not reasonable risks.

The problem of course is that the more we tend to assess who did what to whom and what broke when and why the horse we led to water didn’t drink, the farther away we get from moving forward, from innovating, from controlling our own destinies, from making the differences each of us wants to make in this world.

Entrepreneurs, by virtue of how they think and act, and choose to believe, represent society’s real catalysts for change. Maybe they do work harder and not smarter, but they get things done. They alone drive the economy. They alone represent the opportunities that government and corporate giant environments fail to breed.

Entrepreneurs move constantly forward into the future while focusing on the present.

When you find product or service you like, that works the way it’s supposed to and is economical to boot, know that it was likely created and cultivated without excessive analysis . . . and thank an entrepreneur.

# # #

hal@businessworks.US

STRATEGY/ CONTENT/ CONNECTION

Higher impact. Lower costs.

——————-

Business Development/ National-Awards/ Record Client Sales

Entrepreneurship & Expansion Coaching    931.854.0474

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

OPEN  MINDS  OPEN  DOORS

Make Today A Great Day For Someone!