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!

Marriage or Business . . .

RFPs WASTE TIME,

MONEY & ENERGY

A. RFPs done by or for an entrepreneur
B. RFPs done for the government
C. RFPs done by or for a marriage partner
D. RFPs longer than one page
E.  RFPs that require attachments

Here’s the bottom line for each:

1.  Odds are that any entrepreneur who asks for a formal RFP (Request For Proposal) is likely to be an insecure pompous ass. In fact, unless you’re selling psychotherapy services, you probably shouldn’t waste your time. These individuals are either playing control-freak games or they are looking for free strategy outlines to follow… or to get you to do the strategy work for free that can then be passed along to someone else to follow who lives closer and is cheaper, or who can be more easily manipulated… and/or a relative or friend or “undercutter” who will execute YOUR proposal outline at a much lower fee.

Any entrepreneur who responds to an RFP with anything more than a one-page proposal (no, not two sides of one page, and not one and a half pages) isn’t worth her or his salt because getting the job done requires being concise. Entrepreneurial proposals longer than one page immediately telegraph that you don’t know what you’re talking about!

2.  Government literally invented these things. RFPs are how government people get outside vendors and especially service businesses to work their brains off for free! If you’re an entrepreneur, you might rather want to die than jump government agency hoops and run their gauntlets. Government workers aren’t smart enough to be in your shoes, but they are experts at manipulating innovative thinkers to struggle with solving government problems. 30-page RFP questionnaires are not unheard of. Typically, you’ll provide everything requested before learning that you—now out of breath with burned feet—are not being awarded the project. And why is that?

Why? Because, unbeknownst to you, the work contract is being awarded to a White House cousin or Senator’s housekeeper’s sister or Congressional Representative’s biggest campaign donor’s son who just flunked out of dog-walking school, or the Governor’s favorite niece’s boyfriend or the state representative’s brother-in-law’s sister-in-law once removed, or the Mayor’s mistress’s dog trainer. “HA!” says you, “not a chance!” Don’t bet the farm on it! After all, can you think of one reason a government employee should care about any private business that can’t  influence the powers that be to help keep that person’s job intact?

3.  Okay, the marriage partner thing. That really shouldn’t take even a semi-conscious human being to figure out that having to request a marriage proposal from someone is probably not the healthiest indicator of marriage startup success… especially if it’s in writing. Oh, not talking about prenuptial agreements here, which have their advocates and clearly seem to fit some circumstances. I’m talking about formally requesting a proposal. And, I mean, what do you do with such a thing? Does it include a deadline? A budget? 27 pages of attached supportive evidence and diagrams? Really?

4.  A proposal for ANY thing that needs to be longer than one page is simply not worth submitting or accepting. Proposals are, after all, opportunities for those who request them to identify quick-thinking, quick-on-their-feet experts who don’t need to reinvent the wheel or describe every minutia detail of how they’ll attack the problem. By the same token, those who respond to RFPs need to demonstrate their expertise with a no-words-wasted outline of recommended actions that are crisp and to-the-point. Or are you too complicated?

5.  Oh, yeah, attachments. Fuggetaboutit! Diagrams, bibliographies, source listings, examples, past clients? Delete, delete, delete. If a request source doesn’t know you or have found out about you separate and apart from the RFP, the RFP isn’t the place to start getting known. Best advice? Move on!

SUMMARY: Time, energy, money, and opportunity loss are all likely to occur for those consumed with completing every detail of a typical RFP. More secure, more definite, more fun and more challenging new business results can probably be realized by making a concerted effort to convert sales from your existing pipeline. Leave RFPs for medium and large size enterprises that can more easily afford to take it on the chin when the bottom falls out. Make today the time for change!

# # #

Hal@BusinessWorks.US   or 931.854.0474 or comment below

OPEN MINDS OPEN DOORS

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You!
Make today a GREAT Day for someone!

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.

This isn’t the movies and

you’re not in Hollywood! 

     What?  You thought you would be finding more hard core “sales-and-business” stuff here?  Well, working on your authenticity is the most genuine and arguably most important sales-and-business stuff you could ever set your sights on. 

     Businesses (and salespeople) succeed or fail based on how authentically they come across to their internal and external markets. 

     What your employees and suppliers think –for example– of the approaches you take to managing your business, or piece of the business you’re charged with, will positively impact your reputation, sales, and of course customer relations, even R&D projects!

     So, don’t be bashful; let’s take a little inventory.  How much of every day do you waste time and energy “playing the boss role” (making power plays, flexing your internal politics muscle, acting controlling, acting like a know-it-all, exaggerating your accomplishments, glossing over your errors) instead of just “being” the leader? 

     How much, in other words, do you try to influence others by attempting to impress them vs. simply gaining their respect by relating to them at their individual levels? 

     This isn’t the movies and you’re not in Hollywood. 

     Regardless of their stations in life, everyone in your daily path brings a certain energy to bear on each issue.  I grew up in an obscure, dilapidated, 3-room, third floor walk-up apartment next to the railroad tracks in one of America’s richest communities. 

     And if that sounds paradoxical, consider that my father was a mailman, whose advice was sought after daily by mayors, police chiefs, doctors, and Congressmen.  He was confided in by top “Fortune 500” corporate executives, and trusted by well-known authors, columnists, and artists. 

     He was a “closet confidant” to many big-name radio and TV personalities who lived in our low-profile, waterfront village north of New York City.

     How was this possible?  Harry escaped the ravages of genocide and came to America as a six year-old waif with a handful of rice.  He had no formal education, but he considered every encounter everyday as genuine and meaningful. 

     Harry listened carefully, spoke and laughed and cried from his heart, and never pretended to be someone he wasn’t.  He was quick to admit he didn’t have all the answers.  He was a character, all right.  He was the Norman Rockwell style   www.nrm.org/ personification of humility.

     He would have been a smash success at any business venture, but he liked who he was, he liked what he did, and he respected his “customers.”  In spite of his faults, and too much whiskey, he was nonetheless a success at being himself!  And he made sure his two sons grew up to appreciate the values of authenticity.

     In my thirty years of business coaching, consulting, and training, I can attest to this single quality as that which separates successful people and businesses from the wannabees, hasbeens and alsorans: authenticity.  It needn’t be perfect; but it does need to be vigilently practiced and consistently pursued.  How’s yours?  Halalpiar  

 # # #

Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 69 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.