CrossHair Targeting, Is It Your Business?

Is Your Business In Someone's Cross-Hairs?

Hunters know what a cross-hair looks like.  It is the cross design that pinpoints a target on someone's scope.  It is the mechanism to make sure your shot hits the target where you are aiming to hit.

Is your business in someone's cross-hairs?  Is someone aiming directly at your business to take it out?  Do not be too surprised if you run into this scenario sometime in your business career. Competitors will never cease to surprise me at what lengths they will go to destroy your business success.  The more you are recognized for your abilities to perform well, the more you attract a competitors interest.  This is especially true when your sales begin to become noticeable.  Your competition may not actually telegraph their dislike for your success, but trust me, they will do despicable things to try and injure your market success.

What do you do when you are in the cross-hairs of your competition?

Carve Or Starve, Get Creative In Your Business

Carve A Creative Mind

What if your business was treated like an ice sculpture?  Better yet, what if you treated all of your work like ice sculptures?  What would it be like to carve away new pieces of daily items only to have them melt away so you can start all over tomorrow with another one?  How creative can you make your mind behave?  If you did not need to worry about how fast your ideas would melt away, would you generate more ideas?

Creativity is a key factor to building strong business growth.  Most business owners have a good deal of creativity in their general make-up.  Even so, a lot of business owners do not do enough creative thought.  Why is that?

On Second Thought, I Do Own The Keys To My Business!

I Own These Keys!

Come to think of it, I own the keys to my business.  Sometimes I do so many things I find I am overwhelmed with getting it all done.  Good thing I have a lot of people employed to help me.  They fill in to do the things I cannot find time to complete.  Good thing.  I have a lot to do.

If more work builds up beyond what I have time to accomplish I can always delegate some of the work to my employees.  I do not have to do it all.  I can also pass on work that is more difficult to perform to some of the more experienced employees.  That will have the effect of taking some pressure off.  I can choose to do some of these things because I own the keys to my business.  I like taking some pressure off.  This is one of the reasons why I elected to own my own business.  I wanted to get rid of some of the goofy pressure I discovered as an employee.  Now I have my chance.  I own the keys to my business.

I used to struggle with delegating important work to my employees.  I think I was intimidated by the fact that they may be able to do a lot of things better than I could do.

If Only I Could Be In Charge Of This Business

If Only I Could Be In Charge!

I have the advantage of owning some small businesses and at the same time being employed by other small businesses.  In some business models I am employed as their manager, or adviser.  As a manager, I am not the true decision-maker.  As a manager or an adviser I recognize the true limitations to my decision-making responsibilities.  With regards to the major and more critical decisions, as a leadership employee, I am subordinate to the true responsibility for making those deeper business arrangements.  There are advantages to being subordinate, depending upon your bent of personality.  As well as there are challenges with being subordinate.  Both areas of work responsibilities, owner versus employed manager, are different.

I suspect a good many of the readers of this blog are managers or leadership employees.  You are given some form of leadership role in a small business model.  I would like to talk to you for a bit.  You who are employed by a small business model have completely different roles and uniquely difficult work responsibilities to perform.  I know.  I am one of those leadership employees, too.

Business, Birthday and Benevolence

Happy Birthday

The order of things in life are not always selected with care.  I am a person.  I do what I want to do bad enough more often than I do what I need to do.  That is what ensures that I remain a person.  I know I must be reminded to place first things first, but I backslide more often than I care to admit.  I have no excuse.  It is sloppy 'mental' business.

I am certain, however, as to why today is where it is.  I am certain, without a doubt, who's birthday falls on this day.  When I opened my eyes this morning I saw the world as it was yesterday.  Today will bring more experiences that are somewhat similar to yesterday.  New things will certainly happen today but most of the world will bring loads of things that are typically similar to what the day before produced.  A lot of each day brings about a lot of the same things we saw yesterday.  My house does not show up today with painted stripes and yesterday it hosted polka dots in blue.  Much of today is very similar to what we experienced yesterday.  We wake up each morning with a lot of yesterday in mind.

Its A Special Time For Christians In Business

This Is Not Santa Claus!  I Think You Know That.

Confusion is all around us.  Disputes are plentiful.  Wild arguments can be secured easily.  A contrary soul can become uncomfortable.  Sharp tongues can roll out their plan for protecting sides of opinions.  Refusals to submit can be bolstered.  Eyes and ears can turn away, quit hearing and seeing.  It is the stuff that sets fire to the world in tiny little pockets everywhere.  This time of year is filled with so much confusion in the deepest part of a human's soul that we have become very accustomed to ignoring the truth.  We work to eliminate some parts of why this season is upon us.  We work to change the language, the representations, the associate connections of why the holidays are so important to the retail world.  Confusion is all around us.

For the billions of those who are sitting on the fence, conflict is something they would just as soon ignore.  This time of year brings a subject to everyone's life which many have learned how to flow along beside instead of take to heart.  Ignoring the roots of this season may seem easier to those who avoid conflict when they participate in the season as a holiday instead of a celebration for a birthday.  They do participate, but not from their soul.  It may sound like a safer way to go.  It may keep their convictions for doing what they love to do in life, hidden, especially if those things are not necessarily of good report.

Today is a day that becomes the eve for the birth of Jesus.  The history of that event has not gone unnoticed in the smallest pockets of this earth.  For every person who has tried to reach the world with all the new technologies we possess, Jesus was able to squish your efforts with just his birth and later, his walk and death.  You will never be able to measure up to that exposure.  Never.  And from a business perspective, reaching people with a message of interest is a very difficult act to perform.  Reaching as many people with a message as Jesus has, is and will be able to reach in the coming future...is unparalleled.

Period.  End of marketing lesson.  Finished.  No dispute.  Bar none.  Try as you may.  You are totally whipped!

Happy Birthday, Jesus.  I tip my hat to you.  Thank you for teaching me the proper laws to apply in my work and to perform as well as I can by employing those fundamentals.  They work very well when I bring myself to allow them to exist within my spirit.  Thank you.  Again, Happy Birthday.

Until next time.....

 

Bloggers Who Blog For Business

The Sight Of Early Bloggers!

Marketing a blog site to generate revenues is not as easy to do as one might seem.  The world of blogging for business is still in its infant stage.  Although big dollars are moving around the web paying leads for advertising clicks, the model of blogging as a business is still an infant.

Blogging for business is in its early stage as an industry.  As can be anticipated, being so new, blogging for bucks may not likely be done finding its final revenue form.  It is a very strong guess that how you currently get paid may be working its way to some other form.

Who Clarifies What Is Right And What Is Wrong?

Who Are We Permitting To Teach Values?

Today's education systems do not teach values.  Family structures rarely teach values to their children.  Neighborhoods do not teach core values to their patrons.  Teaching children the art of respecting high values has become a cultural antique.  Who clarifies what is right and what is wrong?

In the business world many think the movement of money clarifies how our values are measured.  If we move a lot of money it can be presumed better values are working for us than if we move very little money.  In many ways this kind of assessment holds true.

First of all, business models do not "make" money.  Business models "move" money.  Making money is illegal.  Only governments can "make" money.  They print it.  Business models cannot go to the back room and print money legally.  Business models "move" money.  Some business models "move" more money than others, however.  If your business model "moves" a lot of money it can be recognized as a big business.  If your business model moves very little money it is a very little business.  Simple concept, often misunderstood.

By the way, footnote of interest here.  If you "get" this distinction clearly understood you also get the distinction that governments not only "make" money they also do not have the ability to "make" jobs.  Not really.  Remember, in order for governments to give something away they must first print it or take it from someone else.  Period.  Governments make nothing but money and rules.  Everything else they do is a taking.  That is how governments are core designed.  Do not get confused about this concept.  It is pure.  Leave it alone but recognize its truth.

In your business model, you cannot do either of these actions legally..."make money" or "take away from others what you need."  If you develop a business model that unfairly attracts a consumers possessions without the consumers reasonable permission, it can be recognized as stealing, or cheating at best.  You cannot legally do that in your business model.  We all know that you cannot legally print money.  Those two motions of money movement are only allowed to be performed by governments.  Not you.  Leave it alone but recognize its truth.

Furthermore, since we are covering the subject of truth, you are one of the only systems who can create jobs.  Period.  We need to get unconfused about that concept.  See the clarity and you will benefit greater from the process of building your business into a system of success.  Sometimes seeing simplicity helps owners to stay focused on the "right" work they need to do.  You need to find ways to move more money so you can employ more people.  That is truly one of the missing links in how an economic system sustains itself.  Governments cannot produce jobs, but you can.  Do not leave it alone, and for goodness sakes recognize this truth.  (Sorry, that was a commercial.)

Now back to who clarifies what is right and what is wrong.

Nothing Happens Until Somebody Sells Something

Nothing happens until somebody sells something.  You can own the best looking retail store in town.  You can have the best looking advertising campaign in the market area.  You can adequately stock the best brand names of products in your region.  You can employ the most efficient and the smartest accounting team.  You can dress up your displays better than anyone else in the country.  You can train the best staff to handle customer service with the superb strokes of a professional painter.  You can manage daily operations and maintenance better than any competitor.  Yet, until somebody sells something...nothing great will begin to happen long term.  Period.  Sales do not occur naturally if somebody does not sell something.  Retail stores are designed to present, arrange, manage and produce sales.  Something has to sell.

Nothing happens until somebody sells something.  What a stupid cliché.  Not really.  Selling is the main component to your business success.  Revenues need to start flowing into your business model in order for your model to begin its success trek.  Well, dah.

Who Has The Keys To Your Business?

If you plan on skipping this post because you do not operate a brick and mortar business, just hold on for a minute.  Every business has a set of keys, even those businesses online.

Business Keys Help To Motivate

In fact, not recognizing that your business has keys may be part of the problem if you are not growing your online business.

In a brick and mortar environment having a set of keys to operate the business makes it certain that the business is alive and needs attention.  Everybody needs an alligator.  To a brick and mortar business owner the keys in their pocket provide an excellent alligator for them to tend to their business requirements.  If they do not get up and go open up their business box in the morning they do not generate any revenue.  Customers will begin to call and wonder why they are not open.  A lot of trouble will occur if the owner misplaces the set of keys that opens their business box.  Those keys become a pretty nifty alligator...a pretty nifty force of motivation.

Keys come in all shapes and colors.  Some are silver and some are gold.  Online business owners do not need a set of golden keys to open their doors...instead, they have ideas.  That may be part of the problem if you are not growing your online business.  If you are running low on ideas today you may not open your business to go to work.  You may actually slough the day away and allow the Internet to do the work for you.  You operate with a separate set of rules.  You do not have any keys to your business that require you to go and open your doors of work.  You are just as human as any one of us and you will opt out of doing your work if the opportunity presented itself enough times.  No keys needed, no motivation to go open up.

Consider the lack of owning keys a dangerous option.  Who has the keys to your online business?  Who have you allowed to run your business?

So You Think You Have Competition?

Every business owner tries to ignore the fact that competition looms around the corner.  One of the great natural buffers that has ever been designed to help distract the mind of a business owner away from worrying to much about the competition is the fact that they have their own business to tend to.  The sheer fact that there is so much to do to operate a successful business model keeps the mind of a good business owner off the view of the competition.  Even so, good competition will still attract an owners attention.  As it should.

Who Are The True Competitors?

Yet, many business owners might assume the competition is very fierce with many other businesses working their own magic trying to capture important chunks of market share.  Be careful with those assumptions.  Although every business owner needs to be very aware of what the competition is doing, many would be shocked at how many of your competitors are asleep at the wheel.  In most markets, there are only a few really good players.  The rest are operating without the desire or ability to harness enough market shares to disturb anyone's effort for control.  When market shares are quantified, studies reveal a handful of businesses truly own the lion's share of the market.  All the other models play for the crumbs and leftovers.  In most sectors the data supports this truth.

If that is true you need to decide in your business model where you want to fit with the control of market shares in your particular sector.

Not Everybody Has Been To Business Boot-Camp

Teaches Well, Very Expensive!

When you begin building your first small business model you enter the school of hard knocks.  It is a very expensive school, however.  The lessons taught by that school can be much higher than college tuition.  Any person who has tried to build a small business will easily admit to that fact.  Hard knocks are expensive but boy do they teach an owner well.  Some of the most effective lessons I have ever learned came from some very expensive mistakes.  Once those become part of your path they rarely re-appear!  You get the drift of those lessons real solid.  The next time one of those lessons flirts again with your decision making responsibilities you are not at all flimsy about what to decide.  The school of hard knocks is expensive but effective.

Boot-camp is different. 

How Many Bloggers Approach Their Blog Like Friendship Pages?

Why Do Bloggers Blog?

There are thousands upon thousands of people posting information onto their blogs every day.  Sending out thoughts they have generated and feel most compelled to share.  Every person who types their thoughts has a desire to reach as many people as they can to hear what they have to say.  Blogging is the medium they have chosen to do this work.  It is work.  It is also fun work.

Given these truths, why does a blogger do what they do?  Are they motivated by recognition?  Are they motivated by income potential?  What is the source of their motivation?

Marketing In A Bucket

Marketing In A Bucket Can Offer Some Healthy Creativity

Let your mind go crazy for a little bit.  Your business needs to temporarily slide out of its normal pattern.  Even though "consistency" has been linked to being one of the key components for producing genius work, every once in awhile you can permit yourself to slip into some creative "off-thinking."  Get some outside-of-the-box thinking going on right now.  For the time being let's move a little bit away from consistency.  We need to relax our minds and move away from trying to become a genius marketer.  What's more, we need to add a promotion that will not chew up our budget.  We need to generate some new idea which can help to generate cash sales.  We also need to create a promotion that is worth viral attention.  We need to "Market in a Bucket."

Tolerance And Strength, Got Any?

Improve Your Relationships

In my profile I reflect how closely the link is between strong relationships and the quotients for success in your business model.  Guess what?  It is true.

Dirty Rat Villain!

When you visit the earlier post "Who is the Villain?" you discover who is providing the real anchors to drag your business down.  You do not need to like the discovery of your villain for it to be true.  It is true.  Truths do not need you to like them as a prerequisite for them to be true.  In fact, most truths are not very friendly at all.  For the most part we shuffle past many truths because we do not like them.  Some of the more serious truths are treated by us with the ostrich approach.  We stick our heads in the sand to avoid them altogether.  Do not shy away from these truths.  We are not Gods, we are people.  We have shortcomings.  It is normal.  Get familiar with your shortcomings.  They are part of who you are.

Sorry, I Have Been Missing In Action

I Have Not Been In My Seat!

It has been a little gap of time since I last posted a blog.  Sorry for the gap.

I have been consumed using my time chips for closing the sale of the one business I mentioned in an earlier blog, "3 Snaps, 2 Crackles and 1 Pop."  Time has become a premium.  We needed to interview and select a lawyer to represent us in the completion process of this sale.  As one might expect, that took a good deal of time.

Since selecting the appropriate lawyer to represent the sale of the business assets many new tasks and duties began to fly out of the wood work!  When a positive sale of this nature begins, delays are not a favorable contribution to the sale.  The sooner the sale is completed, the sooner the results become secured as they were originally offered.  This philosophy leads to the need to use all time chips available for working to complete the sale process.  The business sale becomes the prime source for time chip use.

As it stands, so far...so good!

Please, Do Not Raise The Amount Of The Sale!

I have a moment to share some favorable news about the sale of this business.  First of all, the sale included two suitors.  One of the suitors had the Right of First Refusal, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_first_refusal.  This process had its moments, but after three "cause and effect" bid proposals submitted by the second buyer, the first suitor eventually backed out of the deal.  Appropriate documents were completed and signed.  The current stage of procedures includes the final preparation of the purchase plan and the final approval of the parties voting to secure the deal.

As you might expect, a good deal of paper volume has been generated.  In addition to the increase in paper preparations, search and data gathering has multiplied.  The coming 60 days will be filled with title searching, escrow establishments, finalizing the current debtors data and preparing the transition for continued employment plans for existing staff as they transition into the fold of the new owners.  The CEO of the buyer and myself have developed a very good sense of respect for making this transition work as smoothly as possible.  I have enjoyed the past two weeks working with him.  He has asked me to stay aboard to help him manage the resource transitions.  Both the buyer and our business include the dependence of generating retail incomes as a good portion of their models.  We all recognize how important maintaining retail staff enthusiasm becomes in a transition of this nature.  We are both working well to secure and achieve that idea.

Selling Is All About Being Positive!

I will be consumed a bit more with the finalization of this sale process.  I will share some of the efforts and discoveries as I find time to permit.  I have experienced many great lessons to share from this event.  For those who have traveled this road before, you can provide great testimony to the common surprises.  Fortunately, we have not collided with large enough surprises to spin us out.

In the end, we welcome all challenges and work to provide all efforts to overcome them.  It appears as though the sale may be completed somewhere near the end of the year or early in the new year!  Some projects like this may seem to take a long time.  However, they do not.  The time will move along very quickly.  Just about the time we think steps are taking too long, it is all over with and completed.  I sometimes wonder how we fit it all in! 

As it stands for now, I consider all of the work we are doing a process of work only.  When the check clears, I will consider it a sale.

Until next time....
 

What Does A Test Blog Look Like? Behind The Scenes.

I often sit down to test and discover some things I know nothing about.  I have some kind of an idea of what is happening and what needs to be happening in my mind.  But to truly know what works and what does not, is sometimes only a guess.  So as I prepare a blog for the next subject to post I sometimes experiment with the material and its layout.  I work on some areas to study by going online and visiting some of the top recognized blogs.  I look at their layouts, their conversation, the subject mater, and their payment process in how they display and attract particular advertising mechanisms.

I Had Better Luck As I Played With It More

This post you are reading right now is a quickly typed post that was one of those behind the scenes test blogs.  I typed it quickly for the single purpose of getting material printed in an array of paragraph arrangements.  Of course, it has been edited for spelling and word placement.  When I type too fast I have a bundle of mess-ups on the page.  It looks a lot like first grade English.  That should be no shock to those of you gifted with incredible skills in the area where grammatical poise shines.  My script is usually butchered quite heavily.    

Test this page by working with Amazon Dot Com and finding a pattern of script and advertising blends that will appear better on the blog better than what I have been seeing.  This way I can use the power of Amazon's readership to its maximum potential on the blog.  At present, the inserted advertisements are, at times, disruptive to the original layout of the post and do not seem as though they can be edited very well.  This has presented a challenge in layout, increased the time it takes to prepare a post and caused the post to become confusing as each edit is performed.

Infiltrate, Extricate, Imaginate!

Is 'Imaginate' a word?  According to spell check, no.

However, in the world of advertising we can make it a legitimate word.  We can introduce a new word that helps us get a picture into the mind of our viewers.  Look at some of the examples we can use...

Is My Business Boring?

Does Your Business Look Something Like This?

When was the last time you walked about your business to take a scrutinizing look around?  What did you see?  Did you see tired employees?  Did you see worn out carpeting?  Did you see badly stained walls?  Did you see terrible restroom facilities?  Did you see a boring set of website photos?  Did you see unexciting word sets in your descriptions online?  What did you see?

Were your retail isles well defined?  Is your store front inviting?  Were your signs and price labels current, fresh and professional?  Was your display material on the web balanced, coordinated and does it deliver the necessary sets of continuity for your business?  Take a good look around.  Make a serious effort to find the tired portions of your business efforts.  Be critical of what you see.  Be critical of how you witness what you look like.

Add Exciting Photos To Your Site

Do you need new material on your web page?  Do you need new subject matters that your website delivers?  Do you need guest appearances on your website?  Do you need a new product line in your store?  Do you need to introduce a new service your business supplies?  Take a fresh look at what you might be able to do to add new interest to what you are already doing.

Attack the corners of boredom your business has come to accept.  Give your staff and personnel something they can get excited about.  More importantly, give your customers something they can get excited about.

Why Is It So Hard To Play Fair?

NFL Coaches Use Programs To Shield Their Lip Movements

Professional football teams hire lip readers to see what the other coach is saying when he calls his next play.  That is why they hold their play lists over their mouths when they call the next play.  To the 'broken eye' of view, some would consider this move a 'clever' idea.  It only ensures failure.  Unfortunately, failure is not immediate...only certain.  When you work to gain advantage by some 'clever' move that does not involve the art of playing of the game, you enter the gray area of cheating to win.  When you cheat...you lose.  Oh you might not immediately notice it, but your business will eventually suffer more than you care to manage.  And you will manage the results of your cheating without recognizing the root of your challenges.  Your business challenges will not be fair enough to you to point directly back to the areas of cheating you have considered 'clever.'  It is a very unfair process.

Many Suffer At The Hands Of Cheaters!

Rubbing up against the laws of compensation by cheating to win will only guarantee some losses to occur that will interrupt your long term efforts to succeed.  You are no longer competing with the art of football when you hire a professional to read the opposing coaches lips as he calls his next play.  You are cheating.  Period.  You may win some games because you know what to do before it needs to be done.  But you are violating the laws of compensation and they will turn heavily away from your efforts.  You will eventually fail.  The laws of compensation are real.  Just because they are invisible does not mean they do not exist.  Trust me, they are there and working their magic just fine.  They do not need the cheaters approval to do their magic.  You may call this kind of cheating 'clever' marketing or 'clever' strategy but it still remains a form of cheating.  You are cheating.  Stop it.  You are also killing your business success when you cheat.

Why is it so hard to play fair?  Because your competition is cheating and you know it.  You also believe they are winning due to their cheating.  Your competitions 'clever' ways are gaining your attention and you begin to believe they are gaining an advantage over you for it.  That perspective makes it very hard to play fair.   

This kind of 'clever' thinking has become so normal in the world of marketing that most business owners believe they need to participate in order to compete and win.  Not true, but it is very hard to tell how 'clever' policies eventually cause some serious losing strings of results.  The cause and effect relationship between winning and losing is very gray.  As a result, much of the time we cannot tell what helps us win and what helps us to lose.  Let's list some examples of how we all cheat and consider it 'clever.'

Part 2, Three Best Ways To Spoil Your Customers

So how did some of you leaders do after reading the last post?  Did you get started?  Did you set out to cruise the initiative sunrise all by yourselves?  Good deal, if you did.



Let's Improve Water Use With Less Money!

The first step of this process is to get your focus in line with what you plan to do.  The focus is to develop a laundry list of "spoiling tools" you can initiate into your customer relations efforts that will help those customers develop a feeling that they need to return to get their "spoiling" fix.  If you are an irrigation company that has new technologies to provide more efficient water use, and lower 'power-to-the-pump' costs as a result of using this new technology...how do you plan on "spoiling" your customer?

Part 1, Three Best Ways To Spoil Your Customers.

Each Owner Has Their Own Set Of Trimming Knives

When your customers become spoiled with how well you treat them, they become addicted to using who you are.  It is a good thing to have your customers wanting to come back again.

One thing is for sure, you will not have a lot of competition who will be trying to spoil your customers with improved customer service.  Too many businesses have trimmed away the needed personnel required to increase the time demands they need to devote to increased customer services.  Likely, though, you are faced with the same challenge.  If your budgets are like mine, they are constantly under the trimming knife.



As Good As They Are, Your Employees Have Extra Time Chips To Use

As a result, you will need to move your customer service improvements in areas that do not require large chunks of employee time.  This suggests that whatever you discover to do with your employees to begin spoiling your customers is going to cause a shift in habit patterns each employee brings to work.  Trust me, every one of your employees have habit patterns they perform at work.  In those patterns are hidden jewels of valuable time.  Your trick is to continue to respect the value your employees bring to work but to help them create consistent opportunities for "spoiling" customers with some of those hidden time slots they quietly permit to flow by.  You are now entering to perform one of the great arts to business ownership.  You begin the daunting task of modifying and improving the performance of your staff.  Don't be chicken, here we go.

Trying Your Customer's Patience

Relay Teams Drop Batons

Relay teams drop batons.  Football players fumble the balls.  Baseball players throw the ball away.  Drivers fall asleep at the wheel.  And business operators and employees test the patience of their customers.

The speedsters do not try to miss the hand off in their relay.  The running back does not try to let the football slip away.  The ball player does not plan to release it into the dirt. And the driver of the car does not decide it is time to take a nap.  We do not mean to test our customer's patience...but more often than not, we do just that.  We have grown to remove ourselves from believing that customers want good service.  It is one of the great sickness effects owners and employees have come to protect.  We have grown up too big to stoop below our illusions we formed in egos and pride.  Many people actually believe that only really good people can behave like slaves and servants.  The rest of us have too much dignity to go out of our way and offer more than the extra mile.  Are you kidding me?  Find new employees.  Become a new employer!  If you prefer to win more races in business, you need to quit dropping the baton.  There is an earlier post you can visit...I think it is called something like the "villain."  It might be worth reading here.

We do not actually try to become terrible business leaders...it is an accident.  We just drop the baton once in awhile.  You can be one of those businesses that flourish during hard times.  Look at some of these simple examples.

3 Snaps, 2 Crackles And 1 Pop!

It Is Time You Celebrate In Your Business Affairs

Revelations appear in time to every person who operates a business model.  It does not matter if you are building a simple blog, working in a brick and mortar setting or managing a website that offers products or services to customers.  Sooner or later, you will have moments occur that will deliver some kind of great revelation in your thinking process.  Those revelation moments are usually hard to understand and even more difficult to accept.  They will rub up against your normal patterns of thinking.  That is why most really good revelations come packaged as a surprise.  They jolt us into counter-directional patterns of thinking.  They are the 'ah-ha' moments we can talk about for a long time.

I actually like 'ah-ha' moments.  I am always looking to find the next one.  And to make matters worse, they rarely come from me.

For the sake of simplicity, let's call those moments of revelation as "snap" moments.

"Snap" is when you get a head jerk revelation about something you thought was otherwise.  We need to talk about three really important anchors you will discover in every business that may require major "snap" moments to help you to create healthy new changes in the way you are doing things.  Accepting these "snap" moments will begin your first steps to becoming a better business model.  You will discover in every business a series of moments that will lend a helping hand to expose important opportunities for creating profitable change.  Unfortunately, there are three big anchors you need to address in order to allow your business the ability to promote the value of these "ah-ha" moments.  The three anchors are like parasites that link onto your business affairs trying to suck the life out of your ability to succeed.

Simple To Do Is Not As Easy As You Think.



Choosing A Remote Location Is Not A Good Idea.

Almost every business has the ability to do well.  With some drastic exceptions, most business models have a fair chance to perform well in this day and age.  The exceptions for doing well are simple.  If you are trying to deliver a product that is completely out of touch with the marketplace you may fail.  Another bad choice would be opening your business in a location out of sync with necessary traffic demands.  You may fail.  A few bad choices will contribute to some poor levels of business performance.

The business basics that are required to help your business perform well are often times very clear.  In fact, we can see the value in most business basics when we frequent other businesses.

When we are consumers in another business we know when that business is doing something wrong.  We also know when a business does not pay attention to our needs.  We have no problem identifying how a business could improve its chances for success.  The mistakes we see when we are consumers are simple to identify.  Sometimes we point them out, too!  We are not afraid to let someone know when the front door was locked at 9:04 and the sign said they opened at 9:00.  We let them know.  Of course, we are never guilty of simple mistakes like that in our own business practices.               

When it is our own business, what seems simple to employ in some other business becomes not so easy to do in your own.  Our business will make many mistakes.  Many of those mistakes will happen right under our nose and we will not be aware of them occurring.  Our customers will be dissatisfied with the results we delivered and we may never know.

It May Be Time To Step On The Gas!



The Squeeze Is Still Necessary!



During periods when recession activities are present business responsibilities are mainly centered around budget cuts, lay-offs and belt tightening policies.  This is not only responsible business play but required business decision making for allowing your business model increased survival opportunities during recession periods.

Although budget controls are still critical to maintain, it may be time to find a way to dedicate resources directed at making a stronger "market position" move.  Keep in mind, nearly every business player is stressed financially.  You are not alone.  The business world is filled with models trying to operate with limited capital and reduced levels of human resources on hand.  Most of the competition you face is facing what you are facing.  One of the great 'arts' in competitive areas is to make sure your competition does not recognize how wounded you have become.  Your competition is practicing this same 'art.'  Do not, for once, be fooled by the efforts they employ to convince you they are healthy and strong.  They aren't.

Respect The "Quiet" Hours

When you first thought about going into business for yourself, did you spend a lot of time doing some quiet time thinking?  During that time, did you dream of how you would do certain things?  Did you think about what your business would look like?  Did you imagine how well your business would perform?  Was it a website business?  Was it a brick and mortar venture?  Was it a new discovery?  Was it a new way to provide an old service?  Was it a new way to combine several products together in an environment that you felt people would be open to accept?

These were great moments of "quiet" time.  "Quiet" time is so important.  We live in such a noisy world.  Faster the pace, more the noise.  And as we begin the trek to build our business model we get involved with all of the things we need to do.  Working this and that as we make sure every part is doing what we want it to do.  And before you can feel it, "quiet" time is completely gone.  Who has time for "quiet" time?  We have all of the billion things we need to do in our business that is not getting done.  We have our family and friends to acknowledge, too.  We have life and its ups and downs to serve, as well.  Who has time for "quiet" time?

You do.

It Is An Empty Box...Only You Can Fill It.

When we begin to lead a business, we get that business from the start.  One thing we discover is that the business we begin is very much like opening a new box.  The box may be big or small, difficult or easy to open...either way, the box we open is empty.  Our business does not come with a full box.  It is empty.

There is nothing inside.  It is vacant.  The business we build will be the things we place into the box.  Every little insignificant effort, failed idea, relationship we begin and all of the great things we do will be placed into that box.  As the box becomes filled, it will become heavier with time from all of the experiences we place inside.

Soon we will discover that others will be asked to help us manage the size of that box.  The weight will eventually become too heavy for us to manage by ourselves.  Now we have permitted others to place their items, thoughts, energy, ideas and efforts into that same box.  At that time we discover the box has become a part of more than what we first imagined.  Many things in that box appear without our knowledge and what's more is that some of the contents appear without our complete control.

Who Is The Villain?

Every business has villains.

The smaller the business, the more the villains circle around the owner.  Very few pockets exist for the villains to hide and refrain from disturbing the working process of success when the business is small.  In most small business models...the villain is in the mirror.  Denial of this fact will only limit what success you may be able to realize in the coming year.

As much as this is true, I still find it hard to accept.  However, I have grown to accept my mirror and the person it reflects as I work on building success events in my business process.  Once you arrive at this process level, you too will begin to find wonderful elements in your sphere of influence that will be able to contribute to the potential success events in building your own business model.

Try to refrain from the process of pointing fingers at external factors.  Find the causes you can repair in yourself as you improve your efforts to build a successful business model.  Remember, you are the maker of that model, you are the leader of that model.  Accept that responsibility fully.

This kind of internal acceptance is likely the true first step for you to begin building a strong, healthy and growing business model.  Once you have accepted this truth...go back and read the blog on the 'first things first' ideas and the basic philosophies surrounding the need to improve your 'attraction policies.'  We must learn to cover the basics before we move onto the more complicated business issues and work.  

Failure to successfully manage the simple basics will eventually drag itself into a format pattern of missing necessary steps on the more critical and larger issues you face with your business model.  If you struggle with the basics, you will likely struggle with the more complicated issues.  One does not 'switch on' while the other remains 'switched off.'  The success components of business are all wrapped together, as one.  You do not have the luxury of picking and choosing what you like or do not like to do.  It all matters.  Skipping one will only ensure that the other ones will suffer to some degree as well.

Hang Your Shingle With Increased Pride!

                                       Welcome to owning your own business. 



I Too, Am Guilty Of This Effect



Look in the mirror, now.  Who do you see?  Get to know that person well.  That is the person who will likely do the most to vilify your efforts!  Go back to the 'first things first' and blog on 'attraction policies.'  Do the work and make those changes in your model that are remaining to be changed.  If you skip those, you will eventually skip the coming work as well.  Let us focus on making sure our business basics are up to the levels they need to be.  This work is not work that is about nodding your head up and down and moving on to more important issues.  Go do the work you need to do.  First things First!

See you next time...villain.

Small Business Can Do Big Things.

Small Business Has Enough Energy To Do Big Things!

Small business has a lot of energy.  Although most small business models are under-capitalized, they do have an abundance of energy and ideas.  The ideas they host are more valid than a big business in that small business models can immediately put their ideas into motion.  The bigger the business the less able they become to place good ideas into actual, workable motion.

This little difference between the big and the little is one of best kept opportunities that remain.  During times of tough economies, which we are living currently, this difference may be the great advantage a small business has against the larger models.  Good ideas can begin their action immediately in the smaller models.  When little ideas are exposed to consumers on a regular basis, the small models will begin to attract increased consumer interest.  This will help produce the potential for increasing traffic flows.

This Is An Unattractive Presentation

If you are a small business, begin working on the 'first things first' ideas.  Clean up your presentation policies.  Begin the work on identifying where you need to begin fixing, repairing, touching up and working to improve your 'attraction policies.'   Make sure you concentrate on the simplest things we tend to over-look.  Are all of the light bulbs working?  Are the fixtures free of dirt, cobwebs, and unsightly appearances?  Dig deep into these kinds of things.  They are cheaper than re-modeling and may be more effective than you are giving credit to recognize.  Look at the unsightly scuff marks on the base of your walls...clean them up.  The big business models cannot keep up with your effort and energy on this one.  They have likely laid-off the labor portions that used to perform these duties and many have cut back on their janitorial budgets.  By now, the big business models are beginning to look a little run down.  With extra tightened budgets, they are passing this subject up like it does not matter anymore.  Make it matter to them...be the competitor who looks sharp and ready to play!  Your customer is not ready to have their hard-earned money go to organizations who look and feel like they do not care.  If you are small, this is your best and cheapest opportunity!  Do not miss this opportunity to edge out the big guys!

This Approach Helps To Attract Customers

If you do not believe me, go visit the bigger outfits...you will notice a very run down appearance occurring.  Their parking lots are filled with trash, their carts are not collected as often and placed where they belong, neatly.  Their entryway glass doors are filthy, finger printed heavily and their light fixtures are burnt out sporadically.  They look unkempt and tired.  Their 'seasonal' small vignette displays may be very nicely arranged but all of the peripheral amenities are heavily ignored.  Many promotional and directional signs are in need of repair, upkeep and touching up.  They have a lot of voids in this area.  Look around and pay attention to their current lack of detail.  This is one of your great opportunities.  Re-energize your worn out energy.  This is one of your great assets.  Turn it up a couple of notches!  Slam dunk what they have come to ignore!  You will help energize your workers as well...and the difference in their pride and care will bleed over to their improved interactions with your customers.  What a great time to add gifts, coupon offers, specials and hand-outs that describe your uniqueness.  Load your customers up with these up kinds of things.  It is so much easier to do when your facility looks and speaks these kinds of upbeat things.  Vital!  Vital!  Vital!

In our facility, we clean the restrooms at least once each day.  This was a duty in the past that commanded only twice per week!  We want our facilities to smell fresh, look clean and be inviting.  Pay attention to these little details!  They are working deeply in the subconscious minds of your customers.  Help your customers notice the difference.  Your customers may never comment about the difference, but subconsciously, they notice.  It will add value to their effort as they spend what little hard money they have to share.  Give them a multitude of reasons why they should be spending it in your business.  This goes way beyond product and price!  Value is much deeper than opening your front door and supplying them tomatoes at a low price.

If You Close Early You Are Not Sorry We're Closed...Maybe You Are Sorry They Did Not Come Earlier.

Above all, do not open late or close early.  This smacks of serving your needs ahead of theirs.  Not something I recommend in these tough times.  Be smarter than that.  Some of this stuff is elementary, but often times forgotten or neglected.  It may only take once to wick someone off and turn them away forever.  I have sold a lot of people in my life who shared how a competitor was closed right now.  And one thing I noticed at that point, they did not examine the price.  Be 'open ready' when the hours of operations lend it to be a ready time.  Do not be unlocking the door at 9 A.M. when you open at 9 A.M.  Be 'open ready' at 9 A.M.  Remember, you are the one who wanted this business...now follow its rules.  The closer you get to the right stuff, the more potential you will realize.  So many business operators compromise these items and force themselves to learn to live with less.  Silly stuff.

Do the little things well and you will learn that the big stuff will follow you just fine.  This is when a little business begins to do big things.  Big things are easy when you get the little things down correctly.  You can actually feel your way into the big things when your business is operating right.  If you cheat on these things, you cheat on your success potential.  Cheating has never compensated very well.  Each owner will determine at what level they will cheat themselves out of success.  We all do it.  Work on improving your 'attraction policies,' try to avoid cheating your business.

Cheating Will Produce A Lower Outcome...Good Luck

   

First Things First

Making a list of things to attack first in our effort to improve the 'attraction policies' of our business model is easy.  First we will list a few items in the physical category.  After that we will list a few items in the emotional category.

Find your Potholes!

    Then we will ask you to prioritize how to place these efforts into
    action.  First things first!  We need to repair the pot holes...fix the flat
    tires...then we can work on marketing, budgeting, product knowledge
    improvements, promotions, and all of the other very important aspects of running a successful business model.  First things first, however!

Let's Fix The Obvious Breakdowns.

Physical Category:

• Look at the curb appeal of your business model.  Go outside and look at the front, the sides and back of your building!  What needs repairs and improvements?  Check out the paint job.  Make a simple list.  Prioritize the list.  Place the work on a calendar.  Get started!  Assign someone or make it your duty to tackle this project.  Describe to the person you assign how important you have grown to recognize the appearance needs of your business.  Ask them what else they may see that is in need of some help.  Give them the responsibility to oversee this project.  Make sure you find a way to reward their efforts as they tackle the project, piece by piece.
• Make sure your signage is professional, helpful, current and clear.  If it is not healthy, change it.  Be smart, crisp, and professional.  It is alright to include a 'thank you' sign somewhere.  Make it simple and soft.  Look professional.  Be particular.
• As the customer enters your facility or web site is it clean, inviting and safe?  Is the clutter missing?  Good.  Eliminate clutter and confusion.  Open up the entryway.  Make sure it is swept up, cleaned and signed professionally.  Give nice directions to where they may go as they enter.  Give simple and professional directions so each customer knows where to go when they enter.  Do not assume they are clear.  Offer a trash can in the entryway, outside.  Be thoughtful.  You are trying to provide a good experience for them to adopt.
• Do you have seating available for those customers who need to rest?  And if so, is the seating clean and professional?  Is it convenient for them to use or is it tucked away in the back behind the display racks?  Some of the customers bring family members along who do not want to mill around with the ones shopping.  Help them find a comfortable place to rest as they wait for the shoppers to do their shopping.  Do not assume the shopper comes in with exact cross-hairs aimed at their target, expecting them to immediately grab the target and go to the checkout lane.  Many shoppers need time to mill around, browse, and examine many options before they decide what they need or want to buy.  Help make them more comfortable when they come in.  You want them to take their time and stay longer.  They will have a tendency to build a stronger bond to your place of business if they spend more time in your business.  Permit and help them to bond with your business.
• What does your business smell like?  Is it filled with an offensive smell?  Pay attention to these elements.  Make sure your customers senses are being coddled.  This is true about obnoxious noises, music volume, music choices, telephone ringing tones, buzzers, bells and any other elements that effect the senses.  Make an attempt to improve these unnoticed yet silent killers of your 'attraction policies.' 
• If some of these things are too difficult for you to change and improve, you do not have complete control of your business model.  You may need to examine who is actually in charge of your business atmosphere.  It may be a key and influential employee instead of you.  Take a very honest look at this condition.  If your employees prefer raunchy rock music, loud...and you permit it...you are not in control.  You would be surprised at how often someone has hijacked your ideas and desires for honoring great 'attraction policies.'  Who is actually in charge?  You will soon find out when you begin making these kinds of changes.
• How are your business hours arranged?  Do they reflect open times that are working well for your clientele?  Is your business facing a challenge of staffing which is limiting when you open and when you close?  Make sure you are offering the best open times available for your customer flow.  Do not try to be too budget minded on this one.  Most games are won by tiny margins of difference.  A percent more per year in sales may make or break your year!  Be as accommodating as you can afford.
• Have you considered some art or some character exhibits in your business area or building?  Think hard on this one and find a way to compliment your business efforts with some sense of artful continuity.  Get help on this one.  Run a contest or host an event that will add some culture to your business model.  Acquire a piece or item of permanent placement that will represent your efforts in this area.  Set yourself apart as a culturally aware business on at least one subject.  Learn to tie this effort in with what you sell.  This effort can provide you with a wonderful item that will boost your 'attraction policies' hugely.  For example, a farm store could host an annual pumpkin contest and keep a permanent display of pictures as a montage reminder, set in a frame that looks like a pumpkin.  Next to the montage photo display could be a permanent display of seeds for sale that have large growing expectations.  The display could be a year around reminder of the activity and its fun.  Get creative.  You can think of many opportunities for your business.  (Beware...think long and hard prior to introducing an activity...consider that you may never be able to remove it.  Are you prepared to do it forever?  Many of these projects become permanent.  Can you afford to do it year after year?)
• Are wires, cords, poles, blinds, phones, computers, registers, files, cabinets, plants, windows, doors, trims, walls, clocks, appliances, and the like clean, neatly arranged, straight, plumb, working, alive, and pleasantly appeared.  Look around, pay attention to these details.  Make the simple and necessary corrections.  Do not become sloppy in your physical 'attraction policies.'

 Emotional Category: