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?