Itttttttt’s a wrap!

Waitaminute! What makes you so sure?

You’ve been working at this deal for awhile now. It finally looks like things have fallen into place. You are almost ready to count your chickens before they’re hatched. You’re 99% sure that the long-sought-after customer/client is, at last, in your pocket.

You’ve started paying attention to champagne ads, and checking booking schedules for that dream cruise.

Winning with the who who’s in your pocket all depends on how much you learn from past mistakes. Yes, most of us have been there at least once. It’s called:

Presumptuousness

Presumptuousness is cornerstoned by assumptions. Not a lot of architectural integrity there. In case you haven’t given it much thought lately, assumptions can be dangerous. A necessary evil, so to speak, that can often be the result of a series of correct hunches, and still be wrong.

In business, politics, and life, not many attitudes can be more foreboding.

In other words, anytime you decide that you think you know it all, you can be sure someone or some circumstance will come along and prove you wrong. It’s something like a distant cousin to Murphy’s Law.

When that dark shadow crosses your mind, stop what you’re doing. Take a deep breath. Stretch.

Ask yourself if what you believe about the outcome of that big deal looming over your checkbook’s future –or about the genuineness of the partner(s) or principal(s) involved– is based on fact or opinion.

Go back to your drawing board long enough to make sure you have some contingency plan in place to offset any pending disaster. (What’s worse than looking for a job when you have no job, or having the boat motor die miles from shore with no oars, or hosting a BBQ party and running out of fuel half-way through the steaks?)

I once hosted a huge New Year’s party that ended with guests in winter coats, hats and gloves at the punchbowl when the heating plant died in 20-degree weather. Ah,the lessons of life live and learn.)

It never hurts to follow the Boy Scout motto:

“Be Prepared!”

Or Henry David Thoreau:

“Be forever on the alert!”

Business owners make assumptions every day, sometimes every hour. It’s part of the game of business.

We need to project income and expenses, often for 3-5 years out,to satisfy prospective investors and lenders with business plan financials. We need to devise marketing and operational plan budgets farther in advance than most entrepreneurial comfort zones tolerate.

One of the reasons older entrepreneurs are typically more successful than younger counterparts is simply experience. Most business success seems to me to be able to be reduced to making effective educated guesses.

“All we ever have is limited knowledge” 

. . . that one was Einstein

So next time, you think you know who’s in your pocket, think again!

Even Presidents have learned this the hard way, presuming voter support that never materializes.

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 931.854.0474

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

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Do the WAYS

we do business

determine

the results we get?

ATTITUDES

Do you and your partners, associates, and advisers ALL demonstrate positive upbeat attitudes in practically everything you say and do? When it’s time to swallow hard, eat crow, and bite the bullet (heck of a name for a restaurant!), do you and those around you own up, face the music, take it on the chin, take some deep breaths, and then step forward, onward, and upward? 

Are high-trust responsive attitudes standard fare in all your business dealings? Do you practice and foster “OPEN MINDS OPEN DOORS” attitudes? Are you listening?

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Can you honestly say there are no exceptions ever to: the customer is always right, the customer is always right, the customer is always right? (Even when it’s a customer who has overstepped bounds, or someone you don’t particularly like?) Do you and your people try to make EVERY customer deliriously delighted. Are you invested in cultivating repeat sales with a present moment focus? Are you listening?

EMPLOYEES

Are you taking the time and trouble to get to know your people well enough to make the most of their strengths (or are you constantly trying to shore up their weaknesses)? Have you frequently matched employee need levels against Maslow’s Hierarchy (Google or Bing it if you’ve forgotten it) to most effectively motivate productive performances? Do you practice leadership by teaching by example? Are you listening?

INVESTORS, LENDERS, AND REFERRERS

Is your level of transparency what you would want it to be if you were investing in you, or referring others to your business? Are you keeping these key connections inside your inner loop? Are you tapping them as resources and regularly soliciting their input. Have you recruited them into unpaid Advisory Board positions? Are you listening?

VENDORS AND SUPPLIERS

Do you treat these resource people and companies like partners? Can you extend and generate better terms for exchanging and referring and bartering products and services? Do you keep them competitive with an ongoing bid process, and constantly review their performances while keeping open-minded to other options? Do they know where they stand with you? Are you listening?

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Are you running a U.S.Marine Drill Instructors Academy, or a hospice, or something in between? Is the way you run your business in keeping with the industry or profession you’re part of? Is it too much in keeping that it doesn’t stand out? Do your policies and procedures squelch innovative thinking and doing, or enhance it? How lawyer-crazed tight are your policy interpretations? 

EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING

Are you constantly making room for top talent, and cultivating it. Are you providing enough of the right kinds of training. Are you aware of how importantly regarded expanded opportunities and responsibilities are to most people? Did you know that young people are positively more attracted to being praised than they are to sex, drugs, and alcohol? 

COMMUNITY RELATIONS

Are you and your business being good citizens in the various (professional, industry, geographic, neighborhood)communities that patronize your business and support your existence?

GOD AND COUNTRY

When you put God and country first on your business agenda, all the other pieces will fit together because both God and your country will know about your allegiance, your commitment, and where your heart is. As we sow, so shall we reap. 

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302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

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

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

Make today a GREAT day for someone!