What do you think about February? It is a short month, really? This year there are 29 days. One single day less than four other months makes it a short month?

There is the love holiday. What makes St. Valentine’s Day special and successful? This is one of those days some people look forward to all year, and others absolutely despise. Guys, head’s up here, if you are in a relationship start planning now. Dinner reservations, flowers, do something special and be thankful for your relationship.

In the USA there is President’s week, where schools can have time off and families tend to take vacations. The other item which takes place in February is people tend to realize that they put on a few pounds over the December Holidays and they meant well by creating a resolution to workout everyday and diet, but it is not happening and their clothes are tight around certain areas. Celebrating again on Super Bowl Sunday does not help here.

What does all this mean for you and your business?

Everyone creates a first impression. You meet someone new to you and in 20 seconds or less a first impression is made. Someone goes to your website and in 7 seconds or less a first impression is made of you. A thirty second commercial on the Super Bowl Broadcast cost over 3 million dollars. Think first impressions are important? Clearly some people do.

Now build on top of these facts, that everyone has been raised to have certain beliefs and habits. Based upon how they were raised, their culture and religious practices. You must have an awareness of these factors and how you present yourself and your business.

You must have heard this before and it is the absolute truth, “All things being equal, people will conduct business with the people they know, like and trust.”

The first impression you make will either support this statement or pull the rug out from underneath it immediately.

What do you do with this information?

• First is grooming and clothing. You may not need a brand new wardrobe, but you need to be in clean and pressed clothes always. Your hair and your look must be presentable for the audience you wish to please.

• Second is your smile. You have the ability to smile. Kindly share it with the world.

• Third is your mouth. Keep it empty when you are speaking. Nothing will turn someone off more than a mouth full of food, gum, or anything else while you are attempting to speak with them.

• Fourth is your story. Know the length of attention span of your audience. Therefore, have at your fingertips, meaning you know these cold, your twenty second, one minute,two minute and five minute stories of you and what you do. Some people laugh and say,“I have been a CEO for five years at XYZ, this is absurd, why do I need to worry about this.” My answer is, if you are not Warren Buffett or Jamie Dimon, you better be able to say what your company does and why you matter in a short amount of time. It goes without saying if this matters to big time CEO’s, it matters to everyone.

• Fifth is the clincher. If you want to be the one who is remembered and who made a great first impression, send a thank you card or a great to meet you card right after an event or meeting someone. You will make the right impression. If you are ready to make the right first impression CLICK HERE to watch a video and send a card for free.

Learn more ways to make a great first impression, contact me here: http://www.thementorguy.com/contact/

Let’s begin with the importance of the month of January. It is just a month with 31 days like six other months. The importance of January is derived from its positioning as the first month of the year.

• What was your January like?

• What were your business results for January?

• How was your personal life in January?

• Are you on track to meeting your goals in each of these areas?

• Are you contributing to your community in some way?

At the most basic level, regardless of your position as a CEO of a large multi-national corporation or organization, the founder of a mid to small sized company, an entrepreneur running a great business or a person out of work seeking a new opportunity, to get to the next step you need a direction to step towards. Your vision, the vision you create for yourself and for your business, provides this direction to move towards.

In a larger organization the vision may be created by a team of key leaders. From the vision, you are able to define goals to attain for periods of time. Goals may be for this year, this month, this week or today. This part is not done at all, by more people than you think. In large organizations, they think they are doing this. In reality they are working on a financial plan, and only a financial plan. If the words are written for other strategies which may be true, their focus and energy is only on the financial plan.

Here is how to really rise up above the rest. Create a way to confirm at least one time a month that the vision is still the right vision. The plan is the right plan. The strategy is the right strategy, and the goals are the right goals. Create a weekly process where you are able to check if you and your team are still on course in everything you do.

If January’s results were great, and you add in these described methods, you will stay on course for a spectacular year.

If you see your January results and you are not pleased, recognize that there are eleven months to go in this year. Create the process discussed in this article, and you will rapidly find yourself back on a course for success this year.

Mitch Tublin is available to speak at your company or organization. Popular Topics include, “Everyone Communicates, Few Connect” and “Leadership Law of The Lid.” Contact Mitch for speaking engagements here, info@thementorguy.com.

The owners, the head coach and the players all rallied around their errant team mate on each of these teams and said, “This is a team sport, no one individual wins or loses a game.”

In the last month or so there have been two incidents where a delivery person has been caught on security cameras tossing fragile packages, where in each case the enclosed items were severely damaged.

If you were in charge of these two individuals, what course of action would you take? Is it easier to fire the employee and make an example by saying “This is what happens to you when you do not follow the rules of who we are and what we are about.”

OR…

Instead would you have the employee go through a retraining and potentially become an in house spokesperson and trainer of what not to do for new employees? How powerful would this message be with the video clip and now the talk by the same person from the video who tossed the package?

The way you handle these situations is much larger than the specific incident. When you are in a leadership role and a position of authority, you must have the leadership skills necessary to understand the breadth and the depth of your actions.

In discussions with a number of PIC (people in charge), it was amazing to me the response to both of the stories described. Many said in regard to the football games, that both players should be dropped off their respective teams as they would now be ‘head cases’ for the rest of their playing days. A large number of the PIC stated they would fire the delivery people as they had the proof they needed in the video. The delivery people did not follow their guidelines, rules, customer care, and they should be let go for cause. In following up with questions about the cost to hire good delivery people and the cost of training, wouldn’t it be worth it to retrain and refocus the individual. The overwhelming responses were that these areas were never considered when violations were incurred in the field. Interesting?

What would you do if you were in charge of the football team?

What would you do if you were in charge of the delivery person?

What do you do right now in your company, every single day which supports your decisions stated above?

Want to obtain the leadership skills needed to be a leader? Become more than a PIC (person in charge) become a real leader, go to: www.johnmaxwellgroup.com/mitchtublin.

Do you need a crystal ball for your success in business and in life in the New Year?

What exactly would you want to see or to know if you were able to look into the crystal ball? Okay it is the first day back to work in the New Year and this is too heavy for you?

Let’s try this one, if today were December 31, 2012, and you were looking back at the entire year of 2012, what exactly would you be seeing and be excited and proud of yourself for accomplishing? Write this all down, one item or a hundred, write them down.

Now as you review this list, which are the absolute top five items, that when you accomplish in 2012, you will be ecstatic about? Now write each of these down in their own column. Read these aloud one at a time and focus completely on these accomplishments you have done. Do not distract yourself with any ‘how will I get this done thoughts’. Immerse yourself in your pride of accomplishment as you know you did great work this year.

Here we go now, and looking into the crystal ball it is so clear. You will accomplish these five items if you do this one thing – You must take the first step.

Laugh if you wish. This is no joking matter. The difference between the majority, who do not achieve what they set out to achieve in the beginning of the year, and those who do achieve what they set out to achieve at the beginning of the year is having a clear picture of what you are setting out to accomplish and taking the first step.

Is there more to do? Of course! Will you ever accomplish anything if you do not take the first step? No, never. It just doesn’t work that way.

If you or someone you know is ready to clearly define their accomplishments for the year they desire to achieve and then set into place an action plan to achieve them contact

Mitch Tublin today, right now – www.thementorguy.com.

Wherever you stand on the above discussion, it is my belief you will agree that one item where most of us should spend some time on and we do not, is self reflection. Yes, the “Why am I?” and the “What am I?”questions. This may be described as – A good look in the mirror of your life.

• Why do I do what I am doing?
• What is my purpose?
• What do I intend to achieve?

You may not spend a single minute of your year on this topic. If that is the case, at least this one time of year, you must. You must for your success in life, with your family and your business. The ability to self reflect and to self assess at least one time a month, is actually one of the keys to success in business and life.

This is not meant to be a beat yourself up session. Instead it is some quiet time for self reflection. You should have a notebook and a pen nearby so you may write down a few notes if the mood strikes. Not an electronic device. There is something special that happens between your brain, your eyes, your hand and writing, especially when it is about a subject such as this one.

Why do I do what I am doing? The big picture answers. Consider what it is that drives you. Why do you go to great lengths to overcome adversity? The grit and the willpower, the driving force to overcome any obstacle, will come from the answer to this question.

What is my purpose? To the best of your ability, if you are the CEO of a top company or a solopreneur who just started their company two years ago, you must connect to your purpose. You intend to do something with your life, describe it to yourself.

What do I intend to achieve? If you are now stuck and you do not know what to think, consider for a moment, as the CEO of a top company, maybe you wish to achieve teamwork; teams of people that are really effective both at your company, at home and in your community. You wish to be the one to create these teams that work.

The articles written here are meant to stir up something inside of you. They are not intended to become a book. This specific topic is one which deserves more discussion. Therefore it will become the first part of a new free report to be given away for free on www.thementorguy.com. Everyone who has been a regular subscriber or a new subscriber will be emailed the link for the new report.

Contact expert Executive Coach Mitch Tublin for one single business breakthrough session and experience the inspiration and motivation to kick off your new year.

My friend and I were taken aback. I stated, “Well let’s see, we are at this great party, held for a good cause (we bring two unwrapped toys to the party and this is our entrance fee, the toys are given to a local charity for distribution to young children who otherwise would have no gifts) and we are among friends and we live in the greatest country in the world, I think these are all worth smiling about.”

It was clear he was just not happy. He was wearing it on his sleeve and he said good bye.

The party only began a few hours earlier.

Here is the question – Why did he even bother to attend? If this is how he was going to show up?

When we are out and about, we are networking. It is always important and especially so this time of year, you must be openly warm. Have a smile on your face. You do not have to be the life of the party, just show up and be happy.

Now you might say, “I just can’t do it time after time.” Here is the thing, at this time of year you have the ability to meet with more people at one location than any other time of the year, except the July 4th Bar-B-Que. A smile is infectious. People remember the smile as coming from someone who is secure and doing well.

Here are a few things you might do in order to feel better if for some reason you are just not ‘in the mood’.

• Have your hair done or gents, get a haircut
• Buy a new blouse or a new shirt to wear to the event
• Before you head out brush your teeth or rinse with mouth wash
• Smile at yourself in the mirror
• Most of all, don’t worry, be happy, seriously

Think of it this way. If everyone recalls who was at the party that they would want to meet with again to discuss business or to refer to each other, would you want to meet with the happy person who was smiling and friendly? Or the grouchy person who had nothing good to say to anyone and left the party early?

Have a wonderful Holiday with your Family and Loved Ones!

If you feel you need a mindset boost, some inspiration and motivation contact expert Executive Coach Mitch Tublin who will bring you up so fast you will be ready to take over the world – www.thementorguy.com.

There is something about getting something for nothing, for free, that leaves you uninspired, unappreciative and undermines the true value of what you have before you.

Here is a brief story which is a case in point. One unadvertised area of expertise available from me is career counseling, career coaching, interview and resume guidance. What makes me an expert is experience and excellent results for my clients.

One client recently found me through a google search since my articles appear on www.examiner.com – See the end of this article for a link to a recent article from me on www.examiner.com.

He was frantic. He had a few interviews and these did not go too well. He was now lacking confidence in his ability to interview successfully. There was another interview scheduled at the end of the next week and he wanted to ace it.

We arranged a “get to know you” meeting for twenty minutes. At the end of this meeting we set up three meetings, every other day in order to allow time for practice, study and homework all in preparation for his upcoming interview. My client paid in full prior to each meeting. He prepared, had questions and worked diligently. The phone call after the interview to me was to review how the interview went play by play. In this call a few follow up strategies were immediately put into place. This great voicemail was left for me a few days later: My client aced the interview and he was offered the position!

A career coach relayed this story to me about one of her clients. A recent college graduate was seeking a specific area of work in business. He was currently not working in this area and was seeking to locate this type of position. His father paid for a resume work up, and two career coaching sessions. The client appeared to be interested and excited, however, at the second session did not have a revised resume or a list of potential target companies prepared which were the homework assignments.

At this time, an offer was made to meet or speak one more time only if all work was emailed to her first. The client had emailed a few questions but never completed the assigned items. Through networking the career coach met the exact type of company with the exact type of position her client was seeking and entry level! She was so excited she immediately emailed the client and the father the contact information for the hiring company. A few days later she followed up with her client and he had not contacted the perfect potential employer! As far as she knows he never has contacted them!

You will have to pay the price to be successful. Are you willing to?

If you know a highly functional and driven person seeking interview coaching or career counseling contact expert Executive Coach Mitch Tublin www.thementorguy.com.

Mitch Tublin is available to speak, conduct a workshop or seminar for your company, organization or group. Contact info@mitchtublin.com.

Here is a link to a recent article by Mitch Tublin appearing in www.examiner.com: http://exm.nr/uwhUeO.

Give something to them. Donate any amount of money.

Then go online to your email list or on social media and tell everyone why you are donating to this charity. Explain briefly what they do and why this makes a difference. Say why you care and why you gave money to them. Right now as soon as you read this article please donate to the charity you care about.

There has been so much news about Occupy Wall Street. Let’s not get into a discussion on one side or another regarding this topic. The point is the media is not treating this movement or the coverage as a ‘feel good’ or ‘do good’ event. May we all do one thing right now that will have a positive impact? Let’s all do something positive right now!

This is not a spoof. This is not a chain letter. This is not a game.

This is a call to action. You are asked to pass this article on to at least ten of your friends or contacts. This is about making a difference. Let’s create our own movement today.

Let’s see if we are able to make a difference in the world in some small way.

We will be doing the same thing ourselves. Two checks will be sent out and then we will post our stories online.

Think of how easy this is to do. Contribute some amount of money to your charity of your choice. You do not have to disclose how much you gave. Then go online and either email or post to social media. This is all so easy! Then just pass on this article to at least ten friends or contacts.

The usual content of this newsletter is about leadership, business strategy, and other topics of importance to business owners or those in business. Today there is one purpose of this newsletter, to make a difference.

God Bless.

If you wish to contact Mitch Tublin for speaking engagements or free lunch and learn seminars for your company or organization contact johnmaxwell@mitchtublin.com.

For example, do you make it your business to be invited somewhere and you basically bring the wine or the beer or the dessert and you are all set? This may demonstrate your willingness to outsource a good amount of your administrative and other work in your business.

Another example is, do you begin weeks before Thanksgiving trying to figure out exactly how many people will be coming over to your house and you begin to purchase goods for your recipes way in advance? Your plan is to make every single dish from scratch. This may demonstrate in your business that you are a control freak. You must handle everything. Approve everything. You are actually a roadblock to the growth of your business.

One last example, do you make a few phone calls and reserve enough seats for you and your guests at a restaurant, or do you have everything catered into your home – soup to nuts? In your business this may be the optimal utilization of your time. The one exception might be that you would opt to cook or bake at least one or two items. Similar to your business, you would still work in your area of expertise.

This is a different approach for you to step back and assess how you actually plan for this one single, special day. You would think your ability and interest in planning would be much more intense when planning for your business.

If you are ready to have an experienced, expert coach plan out your next year with you, contact Mitch Tublin right now – www.thementorguy.com.

Fortunately the homeowners were home and listened to the warnings and the urgency, put out the fire, closed up the fireplace flue and kept watch on their rooftop for a few hours.
They did not recall if they ever had their chimney cleaned. They also hadn’t looked up at the top of their chimney in a long time.

They just figured, well the nights are getting chilly; we have all of this great firewood and a fireplace, so let’s just light up a fire and get cozy.

Not so fast.

This applies to you if you are in business already as a small business owner or the CEO at a large organization, a start up first time entrepreneur or a serial entrepreneur, you must plan and be strategic in your business. Consider this, your business is one of your biggest bets you are going to make in your life. Are you not going to spend the time to plan and strategize? Are you seriously going to just jump in a canoe and go down the river and then realize you didn’t take an oar?

Chances are good that there was a nest built over time at the very top of the chimney. Since no one looked up the chimney or from the outside the nest was never noticed. Due to the fact a chimney cleaning had not been done for years, some of the nest parts may have dropped down into the chimney itself. All of these elements combined to make a dangerous situation, which if not for the concern and interest of an outside third party who was able to clearly see the danger developing and warn the homeowners of imminent disaster the results may have been severe.

Do you find yourself deeply engrossed in your business? Are you the ultimate decision maker? Everything must go through you? Is there a clear path for your fire to burn or is there something blocking your path to success? This is where an outside experienced set of eyes becomes so important. A person fully removed from your business to ask questions and probe about what you are doing and why you are doing it.

You have a big picture vision for your company. When you are caught up in the details you lose sight of what is really important. If you are ready for an experienced executive coach to work alongside you, to light a fire under your business and heat it up for success, contact Mitch Tublin today at
- www.thementorguy.com.