I have a set of quality products, including workshops, seminars and money management clinics built around my latest two-book set (book and workbook) of The Back to Basics Book of Money!  A Couple’s Guide to Financial Peace. 

Payment will be based on a percentage of net online book sales.  I suggest you order a copy of the book and workbook, review the site and then let me know (john@b2bbookofmoney.com) if you think you can (a) drive business to my site and (b) earn a chunk of money for yourself by helping me make book sales. — JR Ingrisano

The Issue

Small-business owners should take time to put their companies under a microscope, assessing what they’re doing and what they could be doing better, and fixing what needs to be fixed.

What I Think

If this is a good time for you to do that, consider the following tips:

• Comparing your business to similar businesses in terms of operating expenses, staffing, and working capital.
• Assessing and making the most of available marketing, branding, client communication and other business development resources.
• Identifying, accessing or participating in online business resources (you’re at one of them; might as well make the most of it!) or applicable on-site conferences.
• Reaching out to peers, and take advantage of any available networking opportunities.
• Identifying staff development needs and assess availability of new team members or support personnel.
• If you need additional support, consider speaking with business recruiters about staff development tools and recruiting opportunities.
• Assessing all applicable product knowledge, skills training, coaching and education programs.
• Consider asking your financial adviser about business development and continuation resources you might have difficulty accessing on your own.
• Consider using the equity in your home as a long-term tool for enhancing your retirement.

What Do You Think?

We’d like to hear from you. Have you registered?

Bill Willard is a commercial freelance writer in Clearwater FL. A high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years, in addition to his byline pieces, Bill’s beat includes ghostwriting and editing for businesses of all types and sizes, professional practitioners and individuals. He is a www.thefreestyleentrepreneur.com Contributing Author.

Visit his Website: www.writergazette.com/WillardAssociates.shtml. Or contact him at billw15@tampabay.rr.com to sign up for his popular e-blog, Daily Grin.

Even though I enjoy (?) playing the game and one of my three sons was a golf professional before accepting a position with the Nationwide PGA Tour, by no stretch of the imagination am I an expert on the sport of golf.

To illustrate that point, at one time I assumed that great golfers hit each shot perfectly every time.

That was an incorrect assumption of the highest order.

Sometimes they hit it too far to the right (shank) out-of-bounds; and other times they hit it too far to the left (hook) out-of-bounds. On very rare occasions all they catch is air (whiff)!

When any of the above (or a myriad of other) debacles (behind a tree, buried in sand, in six inches of rough or in a pond) happen, it is what happens NEXT that separates the men from the boys and the women from the girls. It’s how the golfer stops, takes a deep breath, figures out how to extricate himself/herself from a tough situation and executes a plan to get back on track that makes a difference. It’s the crucial recovery shot that can help save par.

One of the worst moments in my professional life occurred when I was Director of Training for a major Midwestern life insurance company. We held a three-day Education Conference in Dallas attended by approximately six hundred agents. In addition to motivational platform speakers, we provided a myriad of breakout sessions which qualified for continuing education (CE) credit. Producers appreciated the opportunity to pick up a lot of hours in a short period of time. Our conference was held in October and I was not aware that we had an issue until the following December.

“Bill, is there a problem with Ed Conference CE’s?” asked my boss on a telephone call while I was in Kansas City looking at next year’s site.

“Not that I am aware. Why do you ask?”

“Because I have been getting calls from agents saying that the hours do not show up at their respective insurance departments.”

Needless to say, I experienced a long three-hour drive back from Kansas City to Des Moines. It was going to be difficult to figure out because my assistant, the person who had done the filing for the three previous years, had resigned and moved on to another company.

And that, as it turned out, was the problem.

For reasons we’ll never know, she had failed to apply for CE in twenty-four of the thirty-eight states represented at the conference and lied to me prior to the meeting about the progress of her work. Knowing that it was a house built of cards, she resigned before the truth came out.?

To be painfully honest, that first week after finding out was pure torture. I wasn’t sure where to begin. People had paid money to attend and rightfully expected to be credited for the hours invested.

Back to my golf analogy.

The ball had been hit into a deep pond and my first step was to accept the painful truth. There would be a penalty stroke but we still time to recover.

I then called the producers in those twenty states and explained what had happened. It was important for me to let them know what had occurred and to make sure that there were no CE deadlines being missed when they renewed their respective licenses.

Then I needed to get in touch with the agents from the four states that would not or could not bend the rules. Our plan there was to encourage them to take free classes via the company’s on-line virtual university or offer to pay them for an all-day CE course in their respective communities.

To my surprise and delight, I did not deal with even ONE angry agent. Each person said that either they had plenty of CE’s elsewhere, or had all kinds of time to pick them up before renewal and I shouldn’t worry about it.

How about you?

When it does, follow the example of scratch golfers. Analyze the situation. Admit the fact that it stinks.?Accept responsibility. Make a plan. Execute. Move on and forget about it.

Bill Sheridan—Sheridan Writes, LLC

www.sheridanwrites.com

Just an announcement that my money management workshop and seminar business is now fully functional.  The Family Finances Conference Center (FFCC) has been built around my latest two-book set, The Back to Basics Book of Money and the accompanying workbook, available on Amazon.  It’s also available as a download onto Kindle readers.  (And you thought I was a techno-dino!)

The Family Finances Conference Center is dedicated to…

1.                  Providing financial wellness programs to businesses that will help their employees enhance their money management skills while taking some of the sting out of upcoming no-raise/lo-raise year-end salary talks as we look to 2010.

2.        Providing a tool for financial services representatives to help their prospects identify available dollars to purchase life insurance, annuities and related products. 

2.                  Helping church members “find” contribution dollars to help their spiritual homes meet budgetary and other financial goals.

3.                  Working with charitable organizations to assist them in maintaining and increasing donations levels during these challenging economic times.

So, when you get the time, please drop by the FFCC website.  Not only would I like your business, but I’d also like your opinion. 

John Ingrisano
Director
Family Finances Conference Center
204 Lakeview Drive
Algoma, WI 54201
(920) 559-3722

(This could be titled, “How John Lost His ‘Blink Factor’ … and How He Got It Back Again.”)

Like the cat that always lands on its feet, some entrepreneurs consistently seem to stroll through the mine fields of potential disaster and come back with juicy, successful deals every time.  These are the people who always land on their feet, for whom the bread always hits the floor jelly-side-up … always.  I have seen them.  In fact, I used to be one. 

Is it luck?  Instinct?  Intuition?  Forget luck.  No successful SBO can count on the coin flip for consistent success.  Sure, luck helps, but that’s just the cherry on top of the sundae … nice if you get it, still just fine if you don’t.  You will waste more time waiting for luck than you will gain by going out and seizing an opportunity. 

No, ongoing success is the result of a combo of instinct and intuition.  But here’s the rub:  We’re talking about educated instinct, learned intuition.  Successful entrepreneurs don’t just decide arbitrarily what will work and what will not; they decide based on a ton of background research, keen observation and focused attention. 

For me, it was nothing more mystic than relentless focus.  I’d decide what I wanted and then I’d become something of a mini-expert in the field.  Then, once I’d done massive research, I’d make an instinctive decision that felt right in my gut. 

For example, a few years ago, I decided I wanted to acquire property that would give me cost-free office space and that would also be a good investment.  I did my homework and learned everything I could about investment property and local property values.  I also spread the word that I was in the market. 

Voila!  I was approached by a property owner eager to sell.  I ended up buying a large, two-story building for $18,000, relocated my office in it for four years (thereby eliminating my rent payment) and actually earning rent from a tenant.  I sold it four years later for $95,000.       

This is what Malcolm Gladwell talks about in his book, Blink.  As Gladwell points out, there are things we know in an instant, in the blink of an eye (the concept is technically labeled “rapid cognition”) that can defy months of painstaking research.  It’s about things that your mind or some inner part knows before you realize it.  For example, the author talks about some supposedly-ancient statues a museum purchased.   After  months of investigation into their authenticity, they declared them real.  However, after the fact, two other experts looked at them and immediately – in the blink of an eye — declared them to be fakes, which they were. 

That’s how it can be in business.  I could look at a deal and – in the blink of an eye – tell whether it was worth pursuing or best left untouched.  Yes, it was a gut feeling, but based on a whole lot of research and background.     

Then I lost it.  How?  Two things happened:  First, I began to think I had some intuition, some uncanny instinct … so I stopped doing the research.  Bad decision   Second, I began to listen too much to advisors and others who had other agendas.  In other words, I began to attempt to accommodate other objectives into my research, and I lost my focus.  Super bad decision.  And, yes, I did get it back by returning to what I had known/learned long ago.

The point:  Set crystal clear goals, become a mini-expert in the field, and then keep your eyes open for that opportunity that, when you see it, makes your heart flip and your gut say, YES!  That’s the entrepreneurial instinct.          

* * *

Compiled By Bill Willard

Contributing Author

The Issue

Remember Lee Iacocca? The guy who rescued Chrysler Corporation from itself?  Well, he’s 82 now and has a new book: Where Have All The Leaders Gone? (Scribner, $26). What follows is another part of my series of macro and micro “Leadership” Book Reviews and Issues of Week—a look at Iacocca’s “Nine C’s of Leadership”.

What He Thinks

Iacoccoa pulls no punches when he wonders: “Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder!” We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, ‘Stay the course.’”

Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding, says Iacocca: “This is America, not the damned, ‘Titanic’. I’ll give you a sound bite: ‘Throw all the bums out!’

Iacocca elaborates on nine C’s of leadership, with Curiosity being the first, but keeping one’s head during a Crisis perhaps the most essential leadership trait.

1. A leader has to show CURIOSITY. He has to listen to people outside of the “Yes, sir” crowd in his inner circle. If he doesn’t put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he’s right? The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. It means either you think you already know it all, or you just don’t care.

2. A leader has to be CREATIVE, go out on a limb, be willing to try something different. You know, think outside the box. Leadership is all about managing change — whether you’re leading a company or leading a country.

3. A leader has to COMMUNICATE. I’m not talking about running off at the mouth or spouting sound bites. I’m talking about facing reality and telling the truth.

4. A leader has to be a person of CHARACTER. That means knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing. Abraham Lincoln once said, “If you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

5. A leader must have COURAGE. Swagger isn’t courage. Tough talk isn’t courage. Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk.

6. To be a leader you’ve got to have CONVICTION — a fire in your belly. You’ve got to have passion. You’ve got to really want to get something done.

7. A leader should have CHARISMA. Charisma is the quality that makes people want to follow you. It’s the ability to inspire. People follow a leader because they trust him.

8. A leader has to be COMPETENT. You’ve got to know what you’re doing. More important than that, you’ve got to surround yourself with people who know what they’re doing.

9. You can’t be a leader if you don’t have COMMON SENSE.

THE BIGGEST C IS CRISIS. Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. And according to Lee Iacoccoa: From 9-11 to Hurricane Katrina and the crises we confront today, this last area is where our nation’s leaders have fallen flat.

What Do You Think?

We’d like to hear from you. Have you registered?

Bill Willard is a commercial freelance writer in Clearwater FL. A high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years, in addition to his byline pieces, Bill’s beat includes ghostwriting and editing for businesses of all types and sizes, professional practitioners and individuals. He is a www.thefreestyleentrepreneur.com Contributing Author. Visit his Website: www.writergazette.com/WillardAssociates.shtml. Or contact him at billw15@tampabay.rr.com to sign up for his popular e-blog, Daily Grin.

Today, the words “business” and “wisdom” are rarely seen in the same sentence. But for Bob Seelert, Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi, the two go hand-in-hand. At a time when our economic systems need to energize people and produce leaders at all levels, Seelert brings us Start with the Answer.

This collection of ninety-four real-life stories from Seelert’s forty-year career as CEO of five companies in three different industries provides insights and practical instruction for anyone who wants to succeed as an executive, business leader, or entrepreneur. In this well-written, down-to-earth book, Seelert outlines his strategic, principle-centered approach to decision-making and problem-solving, and shares insights gained through his exposure to extraordinary people, events, and institutions.

Seelert boils it all down to the “eight dimensions of business life” that every leader must master to succeed: Preparation, Building and Managing a Career, Business Strategy, Business Operations, Finance and Economics, Leadership, Culture and Communication, and Personal Spirit and Style.

In exploring those eight dimensions, Seelert provides experience-based tactics, principles, and ideas for overcoming the challenges of modern business.  Offering both the philosophy and the nuts-and-bolts of leadership, Start with the Answer provides critical insight aspiring leaders can use to succeed.

But more than business fundamentals, Seelert also describes the philosophical foundation of quality leadership. Start with the Answer argues that leaders must first know themselves, and only then can they develop the values, beliefs, and principles needed to earn the trust of those they lead.

The Bottom Line? Before you can take your career to the top and lead your business to new heights, you have to know where you’re going. And before you can do that, you must plot your course. In short, you must Start with the Answer.

Author Bio – Bob Seelert is Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi, a leading global ideas and advertising company. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School, he has been CEO of five companies, has built brands and businesses, been a party to two mega-mergers, and enacted numerous turnarounds. He has served on boards of directors of companies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. He lives in New Canaan, Connecticut.

For more information visit:  www.StartwiththeAnswer.com

·    New cases: 192,370 (female); 1,910 (male).
·    Deaths: 40,170 (female); 440 (male).

That further breaks down to 204,999 per year, 17,083 per month, 3,942 per week, 561 per day, 23 per hour, 0 per minute, 0 per second. (Source: SEER 2002 estimate).

Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust are holding another “Breast Cancer 3-Day” walk in Tampa Bay. Oct 30, 31 and Nov 1, 2009. The Bay Area 3-Day team, “Thanks for the Mammories” and “Sons, Others & Brothers (SOBs!),” will take part in the 3-Day walk again this year.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure is ranked a 4-star (out of 4!) charity by Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent evaluator of charities. Of every dollar raised, 83 cents is used for breast cancer programs. Komen for the Cure is dedicated to curing breast cancer at every stage–from the causes to the cures, to the pain and anxiety of every moment in between.

The Komen foundation is proud to report that every advance in breast cancer research has been funded by dollars raised by events like the Tampa Bay Breast Cancer 3-Day. The successes achieved over the past 26 years are impressive. Did you know, for example, that the five-year survival rate for breast cancer, when caught early is now 98 percent (compared with 74 percent in 1982)? Or that America’s 2.5 million breast cancers survivors in America, the largest group of cancer survivors in the U.S., are living testaments to the power of society and science to save lives?

What We Can Do

We all receive many requests such as this. Helping raise funds for the 3-Day walk and Susan G. Komen for the Cure is something of which we can all be proud. Last year, the Tampa Bay team raised more than $5 million to help in the fight to end Breast Cancer, forever!

Each walker in the Breast Cancer 3-Day must raise $2,300. The Bay Area team is hosting a Casino Night, September 12, 2009, and is requesting your participation as a sponsor of this event. My bride, Sue, a member of the Bay Area 3-Day team, is participating in her third 3-Day Walk for the Cure. Sue thanks you in advance for your consideration.

To Contribute or for More Information

Visit  www.thanksforthemammories3day.com. The 3-Day Web site is: www.the3day.org The Susan G. Komen for the Cure website is: www.komen.org. Your contribution will be recognized by displaying your business’ name on your donated gift.

Bill Willard is a freelance commercial writer in Clearwater FL. A high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years, in addition to his byline pieces, Bill’s beat includes ghostwriting and editing for businesses of all types and sizes, professional practitioners and individuals.

The problem occurs when you don’t get back up and try one more time! We are in a business climate that requires getting back up—sometimes again and again and again.
It works for me, when in a bind and on the pity pot, to bring to mind people who have inspired in me the importance of persevering.

I think of Drexel Peterson who hired me to do part-time radio announcer/disc jockey work many years ago at KVFD in Fort Dodge, Iowa. He was in his fifties and had some type of serious health issue that caused him to spend most of his time in a wheel chair. However, at times he would pull himself up on crutches that were his sole means of support since he had no use of his legs. Drexel exhibited more courage doing that one process several times a day than many of us do in a lifetime.

I think of my mother, Virginia Sheridan, who at age forty-three became the sole support of six children between the ages of six and sixteen when my dad died. There was no life insurance, a failing locker business to run, and a financially grim financial future. Instead of giving up, Mom regained old secretarial skills and went on to become a much respected assistant to the superintendant of the largest high school in the area. We all pitched in with whatever work we could find based on our respective ages, never missed a meal, and look back with pride at how she and we survived.

I think of Johnny Tierney who regularly stopped in the gas station where I worked for my uncle as a teenager. Johnny had been ’shell shocked’ in WWI and walked downtown several blocks in my hometown of Lawler, Iowa with short choppy steps. His body trembled from head to toe as if he had Parkinson’s disease. Although totally disabled, he never lost his sense of humor and was a delight to be around. 

I think of Mike Wertz who was one of my students at St. Edmond High in Fort Dodge, Iowa in the early 1970s. Someone playfully pushed him into a public swimming pool when he was in junior high and the incident freakishly broke something in his spine that paralyzed him for life. Mike never gave up and has gone on to lead a productive wheel chair-bound life for himself and his wife.

And these are just a few of many whom I hold in awe.

I could get on the phone and get stories from every one of you about someone you know who has overcome great adversity. It might be a person who suffered something dramatic or simply overcame a major disappointment in life or love—but managed to successfully rebound and move forward with grace and dignity.

As you consider the people described above, I ask you to think about people whom you personally admire for their bravery and perseverance. Borrow some of their courage to carry on. It is no secret that this has been and will continue to be a challenging time for all of us in business. But make no mistake about it; you can have a major influence on your success by getting back on that proverbial horse when business is down by your can-do attitude and willingness to work even harder than ever before.

It’s time for us to get back up and overcome adversity. It’s your opportunity to shine and excel. You may never know how much your encouragement and sales ideas bolster the confidence of potential customers, but be assured that you will have a positive affect on them if you proceed with courage and enthusiasm.

Bill Sheridan—Sheridan Writes, LLC— www.sheridanwrites.com

The Issue

The car business is big business run by The Big Boys; franchised car dealerships are small businesses run by small-business owners like us. The relationship, never cozy, has soured since the economy hit the skids—soured perhaps permanently.

Ironically, many car dealerships that have had their franchises yanked are well-run, highly successful businesses. But that didn’t matter when car companies were handing out ultimatums: You’re history. Sell those new vehicles by a certain date or kiss your company-paid incentives goodbye.

I’ll leave it to others to ferret out what Washington has on the Big Three  (actually, GM and Chrysler; Ford seems OK), and what this president of ours is up to.  For now the questions are:  How much trouble is the car business in? What effect will it have on local dealers and the communities they serve? And what are they doing about it?

What I’ve Learned

The ramifications of all this on the car business are huge. Automakers have pledged to make the transition as painless as possible, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be problems. With thousands of Chrysler and GM dealerships closing, customers could be confronted with problems over warranty coverage and trade-ins, among other matters. “When all of these relationships are disrupted, you can’t help but have some elements of chaos, and some practical problems occur,” observes Aaron H. Jacoby, a Los Angeles lawyer who represents car dealers.

As for otherwise profitable car dealers being forced out of business, any thought of suing the car companies is being dismissed (Think: Fighting City Hall). But because Chrysler and GM have pledged to stand behind their warranties, this could be a good time for consumers to hunt for bargains as dealers sweat out unloading inventories. According to a report by Sonic Automotive, a chain of 164 Iowa car dealerships, “The lack of liquidity resulting from the financial services industry crisis has also hindered our ability to refinance our upcoming debt obligations in 2009 and 2010.

For now, however,  car shops have bigger and better fish to fry! Certainly, bankruptcies could result, but a part of bankruptcy law allows companies to reorganize to protect assets while they’re figuring out how to pay their debts, though a federal bankruptcy court also might order assets to be sold to pay creditors.

The fact is, for a lot of feisty car dealers across the country all this carries a familiar aroma: Opportunity! “The other side of the coin is that we’re going forward with business, we’re going to be an independent used car dealer,” northwest Iowa Chrysler dealer, Scott Schuelke has remarked, adding. “We’re keeping the shop open and we’re going to service our customers just like we have for 78-years! We may even look into another franchise one day!”  Do I detect a wink?

Those are noble sentiments from people who care about their own success, but who also care about people in their communities they’ve done business with over the years, or who they’ve employed, or both.

But that’s what we’ve come to expect from Freestyle Entrepreneurs!

What Do You Think? We’d like to hear from you, especially if you’re in the car business. Have you registered?

Bill Willard is a freelance commercial writer in Clearwater FL. A high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years, in addition to his byline pieces, Bill’s beat includes ghostwriting and editing for businesses of all types and sizes, professional practitioners and individuals. He is a www.thefreestyleentrepreneur.com Contributing Author. Visit his Website: www.writergazette.com/WillardAssociates.shtml. Or contact him at billw15@tampabay.rr.com to sign up for his popular e-blog, Daily Grin.