Huge congratulations to my client, Woniya Thibeault on her win of the History Channel’s hit reality show Alone! This season, called Alone Frozen, took place on the frigid North Atlantic coast of Labrador, Canada in early winter 2021. Six of the strongest participants from previous seasons of Alone were invited to participate in Alone Frozen. Participants who survived – alone, with minimal equipment – for 50 days would split a $500,000 prize. The finale was aired last night on Sept. 22, 2022.

As it turns out that at the end, Woniya was the sole participant remaining.

And…she is the FIRST WOMAN to win any Alone season! Truly a wonderful achievement.

 

 

 

For more than two decades, Woniya has dedicated herself to her passion for nature, land-based and ancestral-based living skills and wilderness survival. So her win was made possible by her knowledge, experience, mindset and what I would call true grit.

Regarding the production of Alone Frozen, she said, “I have been happy with how much of the heart of my time out has come through – including singing the sun down, appreciating the beauty, and finding the silver lining in very challenging circumstances.”

In Alone Season 6, she was the runner-up and won the hearts of millions of viewers with her incredible knowledge and skills, her tenacity and her deep spiritual connection to the land. With that experience, she gained exposure and video skills that helped move her business, Buckskin Revolution, to the next level.

That’s how we ended up working together. It’s been a delight working with her because she is whip-smart, upbeat, ethical, and authentic. And fun! Her memoir of her experience on Alone Season 6 is due out this November 20 and I can’t wait to read it. (I have seen excerpts and she is a talented writer.)

Woniya said, “I have been really pleased with how the Alone show has shifted over time towards selecting more participants for whom living outdoors and connected to the land is a way of life. Who approach survival from a place of connection and respect rather than one of conquering and domination. I believe this is because over time, they have seen that these are the kind of people who do best out there, and that those who talk big and approach it from a place of ego rarely thrive. It’s a rare example of media being a good influence on a culture, and I feel honored to have the opportunity to be part of that influence.”

I think Woniya is so deserving of this win, and I am thrilled with her success and how her teachings will reach a wider audience because of it.

And these days, her skillset is ever more relevant. “Not many will choose to test their skills in long term wilderness living immersions,” She said, “but having the skills and knowledge should you ever need to helps you feel more resilient to the challenges life throws at you, and more fulfilled and connected as well.”

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I’ve been working for several years with Brennan Zelener, CEO of Newaya Recycling in Fort Collins, Colorado. Brennan continues to impress me as a proactive, energetic entrepreneur. I love working with him.

Anne: Tell us about your business. What does Newaya do?

Brennan: Newaya provides trade-in solutions to regional cellular carriers and e-commerce sellers.  We test and resell the used electronics that come through our programs to businesses in 20+ countries.

Anne: What sets Newaya apart from its competitors?

Brennan: Without a doubt, I’d say it’s the people on my team.  Over the last 10 years, I’ve been fortunate to put together a small group of creative tech enthusiasts as employees who make Newaya a fierce competitor in the trade-in industry.

Anne: When did you start Newaya and how did you get the idea for the business?

Brennan: The business started as a hobby, really.  In college I began buying, repairing, and reselling used cellphones as a side hustle.  The operation grew incrementally over the years and today I’m proud to say that it supports a staff of 7 people full-time.

Anne: What do you enjoy most about running Newaya?

Brennan: I get a lot of short-term joy being able to wake up each morning and focus on solving business/technical problems.  I think my favorite part about the long-term (which I’ve just gotten to experience more recently) is seeing people’s professional growth after working with them for a number of years.  That’s been very rewarding.

Anne: What has been one or two of the biggest challenges as you have grown Newaya?

Brennan:  Leading and managing people is hard and honestly a bit lonely.  That’s one of my favorite things about working with you, Anne.  It makes a big difference being able to have a coach and sounding board in each delicate interpersonal management situation I find myself in.

Anne: What advice would you give to someone wanting to grow their business now?

Brennan: Just do whatever it takes to keep experimenting!

 

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Bari Weiss writes that Kevin “started his first business, breeding and selling rabbits, at age seven. At nine, he started paying his own taxes. By ten, he had bought and was running a 350-acre farmstead where he raised goats and turkeys. For his eleventh birthday, he bought himself a tractor. Also: he transplanted trees; he wrote a feature-length film; he bought a run-down house and renovated it himself.”

So I bought his autobiography, “Don’t Tell Me I Can’t: An Ambitious Homeschooler’s Journey,” and read it in one night. It’s short but compelling.

Have you ever heard of something like this from a nine-year-old? “When I was nine, I had to pay taxes for the first time. I’m being nice if I say that wasn’t a fun experience. That was around the same time that news headlines were talking about Amazon making billions one year and owing zero in taxes. My dad was still on social media back then, and I wasn’t yet. He showed me how angry a lot of people were over it. The only thing I was mad about was that I didn’t know how to do the same thing for my company. I started studying tax law that day, and corporate tax law eventually became my 5th-grade math class.”

One thing successful business owners usually are is lifelong learners. My clients and I constantly read articles, books, watch videos, go to conferences to seek out, find and apply those “gold nuggets” that help us make progress and become more efficient and effective at delivering our products and services to our customers and clients. Kevin’s schooling was via unschooling: “Unschooling is simple: the kid chooses what to learn, when to learn it, and at what pace.” And learn he did!

On top of his incredible drive to learn and grow, Kevin had a huge heart in helping his family and his community with his plans to solve the water crisis in his region.

He wrote about how he was weird and different. “Most of when I was hauling water during 2021, and even a lot of the time I wasn’t, I spent time alone, focused on embracing being different. Being different is just a tool that we have to help us achieve whatever goals we set for ourselves. And my experiences have helped me set some very different goals for my future.”

Tragically, his many plans for his future will not be achieved because Kevin died in a kayaking accident on June 11. I donated to his family’s Gofundme and I hope you will consider it, too.

The world is a better place for having had Kevin Cooper in it. I mourn his passing.

The post The Amazing 14-year-old Cole Summers (aka Kevin Cooper) appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

The article makes suggestions about having plants, adding color, using good ergonomics, and getting to a different locale sometimes.

I’ve always had at least one big plant in my office because I agree it really does bring good energy and make me feel good. According to one study, more innovative thinking, generating more ideas and original solutions to problems in the office environment that included flowers and plants. I believe it!

As for ergonomics, the article talked about having good chairs and good posture. A couple of years ago I switched to a desk that is high. I have a tall chair that I sit in, but some of the time I stand. This switching of positions is good for my back and helps channel my restless entrepreneurial energy! Providing small business consulting services to a wide variety of businesses requires a lot of energy and I find that standing up helps me maintain that level I need.

I’m going to be repainting my office this year and was already planning to paint at least one wall a vibrant color. You can use color to help put you in whatever mood you prefer, whether that’s calm and creative, energized, focused, etc.

Their last suggestion was to do some work in another location besides your office, whether a coffeehouse, a park (now that the weather is getting nice), or somewhere similar. Sometimes as I provide my small business consulting services I enjoy getting to another locale because it always seems to re-energize me and refresh me.

Try one or more of these tips to help you feel better and keep up with all the many responsibilities in your business.

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[Updated Oct. 13, 2021] Gift boxes provide a wonderful surprise to the recipient. Take this one, for example. My fabulous client, Well-Bred Bakery, send me a gift box of their amazing shortbreads. I had no idea they were sending it. What a lovely – and delicious! – surprise! Four flavors. Ingredients like butter, sugar, flour, lemon zest, salt and vanilla. You cannot go wrong!!

Is there a way you can gift one of your customers with a gift box from your business products or services? If that’s difficult, get a high quality gift box from companies like Well-Bred.  The expense is small compared to the the goodwill you foster. December holidays are an obvious time, but other times year round can work well, too, such as business anniversaries, birthdays, milestones reached. Unexpected gifts can have even more of an impact.

P.S. I’ve had gift boxes from both Harry & David and Well-Bred Bakery and I can honestly say there is no comparison. That’s why I have been a fan and loyal customer of Well-Bred since it opened in 2002, long before the owner became a client of mine. It’s been wonderful to see them expand to four locations and have earned their title of Best Bakery in WNC (western North Carolina).

 

 

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Wirecutter (part of the New York Times) is a list of the best gear and gadgets for people who want to save the time and stress of figuring out what to buy.  Last month, they did a post on the best dog harnesses for 2020. I am delighted that my client 2 Hounds Design’s Freedom No-Pull dog harness made the list (#2!). I’ve been using their harness on all of my dogs for many years and have never been disappointed.

The post said, “Nearly every trainer we spoke with mentioned the 2 Hounds Design Freedom No Pull Dog Harness by name.” I am not surprised at all.

Also, This Dog’s Life, which is a site that aims to be “The trusted resource for dog parents to discover the latest local happenings in their community, while also keeping them in the know about national news they care about,” posted this month about “Training Your Dog at Home? Here Are 16 Must-Have Products Experts Recommend.”  The Freedom No-Pull Dog Harness made the list of diverse dog products. They said:  “With a leash attachment at the front, it allows for more control than a back clip harness. And your dog will not be choking themselves by pulling into their collar. There are other front clip harnesses out there, but the design of the Freedom Harness makes it safer and more comfortable for dogs.”

The Freedom No-Pull dog harness comes in a variety of designs including the popular Earthstyle line made from recycled plastic bottles. I love their reflective harness – perfect for all of the night time dog walkers out there.

With all the pandemic puppy adoptions out there (and not just puppies!), sales of the 2 Hounds harnesses and collars are booming. Available at independent pet stores, Amazon and everywhere quality dog products are sold. Can you tell? I love this company!

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Last Friday I attended the open house for my client Well-Bred Bakery’s new production kitchen. It was a great celebration of a project many, many months in the planning and making. Hats off to general manager Laura Bogard for fantastic work leading the charge. The previous kitchen was a small space at the back of the Weaverville bakery. Out of that space they made everything fresh for both Weaverville and Biltmore Village locations.

In the new space –  only a few miles from the Weaverville bakery in a commercial building owned by Well-Bred owner Judy Glicken and her husband – nobody is bumping into anyone. They have three giant walk in freezers. There are solar panels for electricity and on-demand instant water heaters. There’s a large yet cosy space upstairs for the employee lounge. Job well done!

I look forward to helping  Judy (rock star entrepreneur!) and her amazing team do great things with the expanded production capability of the new kitchen.

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I started helping them when the owner, Alisha Navarro, had only two employees, many years ago. Now there are over 40 employees, working in their own custom-built facility in Indian Trail, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. I am continually impressed and inspired by the entrepreneurial savvy and grit that Alisha demonstrates every day.

For years, I have used their products daily with my two dogs. Highly recommended!

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[Updated June 23, 2021] We may be coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, but tensions remain high among us homo sapiens! Learning how to deal with criticism continues to be a CRUCIAL SKILL.

Here’s a *great* article on responding to criticism from the brilliant folks at Vital Smarts (they wrote Crucial Conversations and related books that I use every day with my clients and highly recommend). The author’s advice applies as well if you substitute “mother-in-law” with sister, brother, mom, dad, son, daughter, co-worker, boss, employee Get the idea?

The author starts brilliantly with this:

“Why does what your mother-in-law think of you matter? Why do you crave her approval? I ask that question without judgment. It is okay that her opinion matters. We are social animals. Connection to others matters. Therefore, the opinion of others matters. But what if you shifted your thinking and understood that her approval of you is hers to give, not yours to earn? Whether she gives it or not is about her, not you. How would that thinking shift your relationship with her?”

The more we can master this once simple (but not easy) concept that someone’s approval of you is not in your hands – and that’s OK!  – the more empowered we will be. Most people are constantly running after approval. It’s exhausting.

And although this article is about a responding to criticism in a personal relationship, of course the principles apply in business too. I often help my small business consulting clients work through a conflict they are having with an employee or other business partner. Being able to work through conflicts successfully is a master key for business owners. The first step is being willing to communicate. This article lays out a good step by step plan for that conversation.

Good luck, and let me know how it goes!

 

How to Get Along With Your Mother-in-Law

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[Updated July 1, 2021] Most business owners want their business to grow. The challenge is that growth brings its own set of problems with it. I think two of the most critical issues related to growth are financing and leadership.

One of my clients who has a manufacturing business in Virginia has had triple-digit growth for the past several years. Obviously, that requires some serious capital for expanded payroll, as well as for inventory. Without her line of credit, she would have been in trouble.

Another client of mine runs a multi-generational, family-owned health care business in Arizona that has several divisions including a nursing facility, residential care facility, home health services, and more. They have an aggressive growth plan that has seen the construction of new buildings and the addition of new programs over the past few years. That, too, of course, has required significant loans.

You may have a good relationship with a local banker. Many business owners don’t realize that there are also financing and insurance groups that specialize in specific industries such as health care or automotive. For example, Bankers Healthcare Group are experts in providing financing for health care professionals. Whether you need funding for a new building or just plain old working capital, don’t sacrifice your growth due to lack of adequate financing.

It’s a great idea to get a line of credit (L.O.C.) before you need it. If your business grows more slowly and you don’t need the L.O.C., no problem. But if you need the funds, they’re available when you need them. Many businesses have failed to grow or failed altogether due to inadequate capitalization.

 

Another key growth factor is your leadership skills. I would say this is the most critical factor of all, and the most difficult. It’s the one my Arizona client – and many of my other clients – struggles with the most. Running and growing a business these days is very tough. Competition is intense, laws and regulations can be daunting, even overwhelming, and leading your management team successfully is essential.

In most cases being a strong leader requires a skill set that is learned, not born into. So if you just “wing it” as a leader, the chances are exceedingly good that you’ll fail. You have to commit to developing yourself into a leader who can take your company where you want it to go. This development may include attending workshops, working with a business coach and reading some of the classic books on leadership and communication.

One of my favorite guides for this process is the book called The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations by Kouzes and Posner. This exceptional book is now in its 5th edition. The five practices on exemplary leadership according to the authors, who studied thousands of leaders for many years, are

• model the way
• Inspire a shared vision,
• challenge the process)
• enable others to act and
• encourage the heart.

The book is loaded with real life stories that will educate and inspire you. A few other books that I also recommend include:

• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, which reveals the five dysfunctions which go to the very heart of why teams even the best ones-often struggle and outlines a powerful model and actionable steps that can be used to overcome these common hurdles and build a cohesive, effective team.
• Leadership and Self-Deception by the Arbinger Institute. Through a story everyone can relate to about a man facing challenges on the job and in his family, the authors expose the fascinating ways that we can blind ourselves to our true motivations and unwittingly sabotage the effectiveness of our own efforts to achieve success and increase happiness.
• Discipline without Punishment: The proven strategy that turns problem employees into superior performers by Dick Grote. Highly recommended. Step by step guidance.
• What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith, which identifies 20 of the most annoying interpersonal issues in the workplace and help you figure out which ones apply to you and how to fix them.
• Crucial Conversations: Tool for Taking When the Stakes Are High, by Patterson and Grenny. This book has revolutionized the way millions of people communicate when stakes are high. And provides the tools to prepare for high-stakes situations, transform anger and hurt feelings into powerful dialogue, make it safe to talk about almost anything, be persuasive, not abrasive

To successfully growth your company, you must commit yourself to a program of self-development. Commit to reading at least one book a month. Many of the most successful business people read one or two books every week. But even if you read one a month, within a year, you’ll have some amazing insights and tools you can apply to yourself and in your business.

Books are fantastic, but of course you need more than that. You need consistent, live input and feedback from qualified people. These could take the form of a mastermind group of non-competitive business owners, a business coach like myself, or a mentor who is willing to talk with you regularly. With the tools of phone, video chat and email, these people don’t even have to be in your same geographical area. While the buck will always stop with you, as owner of your business, that doesn’t mean you should go it alone. No one succeeds all by themselves.

In conclusion, in my 13 years of coaching many business owners, my experience is that obtaining and managing the financial resources needed for growth, along with your development into the best leader you can be, are two essential requirements. The good news is that they are both achievable.

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The Axiom Business Book Awards are the largest and most respected critical guidepost for business books in today’s new world of publishing. These prestigious and competitive awards are presented in 21 business categories and serve as the premier list to help readers discover new and innovative works.

Inside the Founding of Newsweek: How a Hot-Tempered, One-Legged R.A.F. Pilot Launched an American Media Giant won a bronze medal in the biography/memoir, a notable achievement that demonstrates the strong interest in the history of media, journalism and entrepreneurship.

Winner of Axiom Business Book Awards bronze medal

My grandfather, who died in 1980, wanted his son – my father – and me to publish his memoir when I brought it back in my suitcase after visiting him in Brazil at age 16 in 1975. Instead the manuscript languished in my father’s closet for 30 years, resurfacing after his death in 2009.

Getting my grandfather’s book published was a gargantuan endeavor (though not nearly as big as founding a national news magazine!). Among other things, I organized the book and wrote the foreword

On behalf of my grandfather, I finally won a medal! 😉

and afterword. I am thrilled that not only is my grandfather’s memoir published, but that it has received this recognition from Axiom Business Book Awards.

A former wartime pilot and Time magazine’s first foreign editor, Thomas J. C. Martyn had a vision: to establish a weekly news magazine that would rival Time, which in the 1930s was the only magazine of its kind in the United States. Martyn succeeded—so resoundingly that Newsweek has prospered for over 80 years, first as a stalwart of print media and now in the digital era, as well. Newsweek was Martyn’s brainchild, brought to life through his own perseverance and ingenuity. So it came as a bitter blow when a series of rivalries and disputes led to his ousting from the Newsweek board just four years after its first edition.

The memoir depicts his efforts to get Newsweek off the ground; his meetings with powerful men such as President Roosevelt and Henry Ford; and his own idiosyncrasies that may have played a part in the rift with the Newsweek board. This classic entrepreneur’s story reveals the struggles and triumphs of getting a national magazine off the ground during the depths of the Great Depression

My grandfather was a tenacious entrepreneur with incredible vision, as well as an accomplished journalist, who started Newsweek at the nadir of the Great Depression in 1933. I think he would be incredibly proud that his memoir has won this prestigious award and to know that his story is finally getting the recognition it deserves.

———————-

Since 2002, Anne Alexander has been helping business owners around the U.S. and globally to grow and manage their businesses.

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I almost lost my data!

Have you ever lost your data or needed to restore a website?

We all hate to lose some of our digital information, so we wisely use backup systems.

I take it one step further. For a minimal investment of time and money, a little extra insurance can come in handy. This insurance is having more than one backup system.

I was sure glad I had it last week. Here’s why.

I’ve been using Sucuri for backing up my websites. In my experience, they do a great job with that, as well as with website monitoring and repairing things if you ever get hacked.

I recently had some more SEO fine tuning done on my website by a great tech guy (contact me if you are looking for someone). As a bonus, he installed a premium backup plugin on my website. It’s a well-known brand that I had heard good things about over the years. I decided to leave my Sucuri backups in place, since they are only $5/month per website.

Then, I developed a problem with another plugin and I had to restore my website. Guess what? For unknown reasons, the premium plugin did not play nice with my website and would not work. Aghhh!

Fortunately, I had my Sucuri back up, and it worked. My website was restored to the version I needed.

So yeah for duplicate backups!

For my computer files, I use Carbonite. AND I also frequently back up my entire computer system to a hard drive in my office using Acronis True Image.  Again, redundancy of backups.

My all important to-do list of all my projects is in Workflowy and backs up daily to my Dropbox account. I also download it from Workflowy from time to time, as an extra precaution, in case Drop box has a problem.

In your business, do you have backups for your backups?

Where do you need to install an extra layer of redundancy to protect your business?

Let me put it another way. What would happen if your back up or your computer, your website, or other critical data for your business failed?

How far back would that set you?

Or could you even recover from it?

• 60% of companies that lose their data will shut down within 6 months of the disaster. (Source Boston Computing)
• 20% of small to medium businesses will suffer a major disaster causing loss of critical data every 5 years. (Source: Richmond House Group)
• About 70% of business people have experienced (or will experience) data loss due to accidental deletion, disk or system failure, viruses, fire or some other disaster (Source: Carbonite)
• 47% of enterprises lost data in the cloud and had to restore their information from backups (Source: Symantec’s 2013 Report “Avoiding the Hidden Costs of the Cloud”)

You don’t want to depend totally on the cloud or on your bricks and mortar business based backups. Have both. And make sure they are backing up properly. Verify the backups.

I’m glad I did.

© 2018 Anne Alexander. All rights reserved.

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Individuals can set B.H.A.G.’s for themselves, too, though.  Back in January, when my small business coaching client Nancy Donnelly’s company, RightStar Systems, challenged its employees to set a big personal goal for themselves in 2013, she set herself a B.H.A.G.: to ride in a Gran Fondo with her son.

What’s a Gran Fondo? It’s an Italian term used to denote a short to long distance, organized, mass-participation cycling event, typically held annually. In this case, it was 106 miles, held in Richmond, Virginia. She decided to raise money to fight ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, which has afflicted some of Nancy’s family members.

Before setting herself this goal, Nancy, a 57 year old, Senior IT Process and Systems Consultant, was only a casual, recreational cycler. And while she enjoyed taking occasional hikes, she was not an athlete nor did she consider herself to be in top condition.

Her son, Brooks, 25, acted as Nancy’s trainer. A top level amateur racer for the past 5 years, Brooks competed in many national level pro-am races and holds two state titles, a collegiate conference title and numerous race wins around the country.

In January, Nancy started her training with spinning classes to start getting in shape to achieve this audacious goal. In May she started cycling outside on a road bike she purchased in April. Her first ride was 4.7 miles. As the weeks and months passed, I heard about her rides, her successes, her challenging rides in the rain (lots of rain!) and bouts with stinging insects, and hills, hills and more hills. Her husband, Tycer, provided awesome support, helping her plan routes and picking her up at the end of her rides. Her longest ride was in September at 76 miles!

After training hard for nine months, Nancy was ready. On October 4, Nancy & Brooks rode in the Richmond Gran Fondo. It was a clear, incredibly hot day, ranging up to 93 degrees.

I can’t tell you how proud I am of Nancy. She took an outsized goal and persevered. She grew physically, mentally and emotionally.

Brooks & Nancy after the race!

The organizers added 4 miles to the ride the week before the event.)  It took about 7½ hours to ride the course.  What Nancy thought was to be a course with 1850 ft. total elevation gain ended up being 4500+ ft. elevation gain!

“I was SOOO tired and SOOO hot,” she continued. “When my left foot started cramping at mile 30, I continued on.  I told myself that people with ALS have muscle cramps, and they work through them, and I was going to have to figure it out.  I maintained my training speed of 14.3 miles per hour throughout the ride.  For my division, age group and gender, there were 72 riders starting, 62 finished and of the 62 that finished, I was 36^th!!”

As if her courage and tenacity in achieving this audacious goal wasn’t enough, Nancy and Brooks raised over $1800 for ALS research and she is going to continue to cycle. It has been quite the journey for Nancy and one that she will carry with her for the rest of her life. Not only am I incredibly proud of her, but I am also inspired by Nancy. I hope you are inspired as well and set yourself a Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

Let me know what it is, so I can cheer you on.

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Queen Elizabeth, Coach

“The Audience” refers to the weekly audience the Queen has with the current Prime Minister (PM). This is a practice started by Queen Victoria in the 19th century, and the current Queen has been doing it for the 60 years of her reign. Over that time, she has met with 12 prime ministers, from Winston Churchill to David Cameron. It is a fabulous production and I enjoyed it very much.

The real audiences between the Queen and the PM – are kept completely confidential by the Queen and the PM. Since the conversations in the play were imagined by the playwright, based on what was going on at the time, we don’t know how close to the truth he got. But the production felt very authentic.

In the play, the Queen shows extensive knowledge of the political goings-on and there are a lot of interesting exchanges between her and the various PMs. At one point I had a quiet, yet powerful thought:

The Queen is very much like a business or executive coach to the Prime Minister!

Every week, the PM meets for an hour with the Queen (his coach?!) to discuss matters of state. The PM is not required to follow any of the Queen’s advice, indeed it is part of the Queen’s charge to support the PM. But in the play, she does ask challenging questions, at times, with an aim of helping the PM determine the best course of action to take, whether it is the Suez Crisis or dealing with apartheid in South Africa.

Of course, government and business leaders of all kinds have many advisers helping them do their job. But  a cabinet member is not the same as  your own, private expert coach. In actual fact, the leader of an important country, Great Britain, meets weekly with someone – the Queen –  for one-on-one, confidential guidance and support.

I am obviously pro-coach and hope everyone finds themselves a great business, executive or career coach, whether formally or informally, whether with Queen Elizabeth, me, or someone else. We all need confidential, experienced guidance and a witness to our success and challenges.

Queen Anne, Coach. I like the ring of that. 😉

© 2018 Anne Alexander. All rights reserved.

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1. Sprinkler Systems.

A sprinkler system installed in a building represents the best defense against fire damage. In fact, research suggests that properly working sprinkler systems are 99% effective in preventing fire damage and destruction. Although they are becoming more common in residential and commercial buildings, they aren’t available everywhere, particularly in old buildings where installing a sprinkler system would be prohibitively expensive.

2. Smoke Detectors.

Installing smoke detectors in the office is imperative. These devices are designed to detect smoke particles in the air. When an unusually large amount of smoke particles appears in the air, a smoke detector emits a loud noise to warn the building’s occupants. There are several options when shopping for smoke detectors. Some are battery powered, while others are hard-wired to the building’s electrical system and may be connected to a security company that will automatically dispatch emergency assistance when a fire occurs. Business owners should consider several factors when purchasing and maintaining their building’s smoke detectors:

• Ensure that each smoke detector is loud enough to adequately warn employees that there is a problem.
• Space out an ample number of smoke detectors throughout the workplace to prevent certain spaces from becoming vulnerable.
• If you’re using battery-powered devices, set your calendar to remind you to routinely replace the batteries.

3. Fire Extinguishers.

To satisfy OSHA requirements, employers must:

• Provide, mount, and locate approved portable fire extinguishers in the workplace.
• Avoid using fire extinguishers that use carbon tetrachloride or chlorobromomethane.
• Maintain fire extinguishers and routinely ensure that they are in proper working order.

4. Fire Safety Training.

The importance of educating your employees on fire safety cannot be overstated. If you’re like most employers, making any sort of employee training interesting can be a challenge. Using these tips will help bring life to an otherwise mundane topic:

• Infuse humor into your presentations when appropriate.
• Incorporate hands-on activities and demonstrations as often as possible to engage the audience.
• Thoughtfully schedule fire safety programs to avoid imposing on employees’ personal time.
• Customize your company’s fire safety training to suit the unique characteristics of your business and the needs of your staff. For example, employees working in a warehouse with dangerous combustible materials will need very regular refresher courses because of the inherent risks associated with their jobs.

5. Evacuation Plan.

Every workplace needs a solid evacuation plan to advise employees on how to react to a fire. These escape plans should be in writing and should include, at a minimum, provisions like these:

• Everyone should try to remain calm. When employees panic during a fire, chaos may ensue, thereby negatively affecting people’s judgment and slowing reaction time.
• Employees should first attend to disabled or handicapped staff members that need assistance.
• People should not concern themselves with any personal possessions or work materials; instead, the sole goal should be to get out of the building safely.
• Employees should exit via stairways and avoid using elevators in the event of a fire.
• If smoke is consuming the building and visibility is an issue, once employees find an exit, they should make loud noises to help others find the way out.
• Only after individuals get out of the building should they dial 911. While still in a building consumed by fire, the only concern should be getting oneself and others safely out of the building.
• All staff members should be advised to meet in a designated meeting place outside the building. There, management will take attendance so they can identify any missing people for emergency personnel on the scene.

6. Fire Drills.

Conducting periodic, unannounced fire drills will help ensure that employees understand and can properly execute the company’s evacuation plan.

7. Monitor the Electrical System.

Overloaded outlets, faulty wiring and defective plugs are some of the most common causes of workplace fires. Appliances used in offices, such as space heaters, electrical fans and coffee makers, are also common culprits. Therefore, small business owners should routinely conduct electrical inspections to detect and remedy any unsafe conditions.

These tips will help small business owners protect their businesses and their employees from the harmful effects of workplace fires. In addition, employers can take steps to minimize the damage if a fire does occur, such as backing up information stored on computers and maintaining important documents offsite or in a fire-safe cabinet.

Jay Harris is a Home Depot sales associate in the Chicago suburbs and a writer on Home Depot’s blog. Jay’s interests in the home and office improvement arena include smoke detectors and security systems.

The post 7 Steps toward a Fire-Safe Workplace appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

Measuring and Monitoring Your Brand Reputation

A positive online reputation is worth its weight in gold — for small businesses, in particular. This is a direct result of changing consumer behaviors, as well as technological advances: As mobile phones become more ubiquitous, online review sites more wide-reaching, and online search more dominant as a source of consumer information, more and more individuals are using the Web to check up on businesses and brands, before committing to spend any money. What does this mean for your company? It means that a positive online image will help bring in new customers, while a bad online reputation will have consumer fleeing to your competitors!

As such, it is not unreasonable to call online reputation make or break for small business owners — and if you doubt it, consider this thought exercise. You are looking to book a hotel for an upcoming business trip, and you Google the name of a particular hotel. The Google search reveals a litany of scathing, one-star reviews for that hotel — but there is also a sponsored ad for a hotel that is just across the street, has comparable rates, and comes with glowing five-star endorsements. Which hotel are most consumers going to choose, and which one is probably going to lose business as a result of its lackluster online image?

This is not meant to sound alarmist; it is simply meant to underscore the important of online reputation — and the urgency with which businesses need to monitor and measure their online image!

Reputation and Influence

As it happens, there are numerous online tools that are sometimes said to be useful in online reputation monitoring, among them FollowerWonk, PeopleBrowsr, and particularly Klout. Here, though, a word of distinction is in order. Each of these tools is effectively used to measure a person or brand’s sphere of online influence — that is, how much weight the person or brand carries among social media users. This is not irrelevant, especially for journalists, bloggers, and those in sales, but it is not quite the same as true online reputation monitoring.

Online reputation monitoring comes down to this and this alone: What are people saying about your brand on the Internet — and, more to the point, what are your clients and customers saying about your brand on the Internet? This is not a matter of your brand’s influence or authority so much as it is a simple reflection on whether people want to buy your products and services.

Measuring and Monitoring Your Brand’s Online Reputation

So how does a brand effectively keep tabs on its online image? It begins with simple online searches. As a small business owner, make it a matter of habit to conduct regular Google and Bing searches for your brand name. If your company name is something fairly generic — that is, if there are many other companies with the same name — then you may wish to do a search for your brand name along with geographic signifiers (i.e., “Ace Widgets Tampa FL,” or “Star Small Business Services New York”).

A couple of further tips: Remember that you can automate this process by creating Google and Bing alerts, which will let you know the minute a new listing or review of your business appears on the web. Another tip is to periodically search for your brand name on Facebook, which is where there is likely to be a fair amount of online chatter about various companies and brands.

Review Monitoring

It is also important for small businesses to keep tabs on their online reviews — on sites such as Yelp.com, Angie’s List, and so on. Make it a priority to check out your consumer notices on a regular basis, and to stay aware of exactly what people are saying about your company on these review sites. Knowing where your small business stands, reputation-wise, is of the essence in today’s review-driven world.

Of course, small business owners need to make peace with the fact that they cannot control their online reviews 100 percent — and that, from time to time, a negative review may arise, as the result of an unreasonable customer or even a disgruntled employee! You cannot control these bad reviews, but there are a couple of things you can do. One is to make sure that your company profile, on Yelp or on the applicable review site, is accurate and up to date; ensuring a professional presentation for your brand can go a long way toward curbing the effect of those occasional unflattering reviews! Second, you can go to your most faithful clients and ask them to submit some positive reviews of your small business — reviews that will counterbalance and hopefully drown out the bad ones.

The bottom line for businesses is that online reputation is critical — and knowing what people are saying about you is something you cannot afford to neglect.

Mike Zammuto is the COO of https://www.reputationchanger.com. The company provides services for online reputation management, which in turn gives people and businesses full control over their online search results.

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Good Move! Tips for Moving Your Small Business

Moving is never any fun, whether it’s for your home or your business. When it comes to moving your small business, it’s important that the process does as little as possible to interrupt daily activities and inconvenience your clients. You aren’t just relocating the physical boxes, computers and desk chairs–it’s also an exciting chance to breathe new life into your enterprise and reach out to your network.

Paying attention to both the physical and nonphysical aspects of transporting your business safely will ensure a less harried, more productive and rewarding experience for you and your employees.

The Non-Physical Move

Telephone & Email

How do your clients typically get in touch? If you have a small business, particularly a home business, it’s likely that they call you and email you a lot. You may suppose that your email address will not change, but, depending on where you move, or how far, it could change with your service providers.

Of course, keeping your contact information as similar as possible is best for your clients. But if you must change these points of contact, make sure that you have the information finalized before revealing it to clients, especially in any official documents such as a marketing postcard or flier. The telephone should be the absolute last thing you move from the old business location. You want clients to be able to reach you until the last possible moment, and if your primary phone line is physical, have it forwarded to a cell phone where you can still be reached.

Backing Up Computer Files

If you’re getting ready to disconnect the office computers, this is not the time to neglect the importance of backing up all your business’ files. Transporting your computers can be tricky, so you’ll need to make sure that everything on your hard drive will remain safe and accessible in the new location. Remember, portable drives are necessary when moving everything; don’t trust your computer (particularly if it’s old) to retain everything. Furthermore, cloud providers like Dropbox, Google Drive, or a proprietary in-house system can make the set-up at your new location seamless.

Sharing News on Websites or Postcards

If you have a website, share the news with your followers that your business will be moving. Some companies send out special fliers or postcards with the new information, but make certain that any information is correct before you invest in printing hard copies for clients.

The Physical Move

Give Your Staff the News

Let your employees know which days will be spent packing and moving the office, and tell them to dress appropriately. Telling your staff ahead of time is also a good way to spread the word that your business is relocating and thus, create a positive “buzz.”

Make a Fool Proof List

You might have an informal “to do” list lying around the office, but your actual moving checklist should be as comprehensive as possible. You might want to include information such as supplies needed, reminders to update various contact information and telephone numbers for moving companies.

Label All Boxes Clearly

Whether you hired someone to move everything or you and the staff are moving it all yourselves, labeling each box, with as much information as necessary, is important. It will make the unpacking process much easier if you know where everything goes in the new location.

Packing Computer Cables, Monitors and Keyboards

Your computer equipment and accessories should be handled with extra TLC. Unplug your computer cables, wrap them carefully to avoid tangling, and put them into labeled bags–freezer bags work well. As for keyboards and computer monitors, these should be carefully wrapped in blankets or something soft, so they won’t experience any impact during transport.

Other Electronic Equipment

Printers, fax machines and other electronic devices are sensitive to moving as well. Tape down any loose covers, lids or moving parts to the machines, and do not forget to remove the ink cartridges from the printers. If your devices are still under warranty, check the handbook for moving tips.

Insuring the Moving Truck

You’ll want to check on–and implement– insurance policies regardless of whether you, your employee or a professional driver will be driving the truck from your old location to your new one. If you hire professional movers as well as a truck, you could be responsible if the truck gets into an accident and the moving company is not properly insured. And if your office’s equipment gets damaged during transport, insurance can help with the costs.

Driving a Moving Truck Safely

Before anyone attempts to actually drive the truck, he or she should get accustomed to the way the controls, mirrors and other “bells and whistles” work. Also, remember that large trucks frequently follow separate road guidelines from cars, so the driver should pay attention to truck signs, weight stations (if applicable) and other considerations. Tell the driver not to make sharp turns or back up into tight spaces if new to operating a truck.

Remember, the painless move of office equipment is important, but your safety and the safety of your employees matter most when it comes to relocating a business. Be appreciative and gracious to anyone who assists in the process, and take their needs in consideration. A team that works together in business should be able to speedily and efficiently relocate that business when the time comes, provided you plan ahead.

Jay Harris has been a Home Depot store associate since 2005 in the Chicago area. Jay writes tips on equipment rentals, including carpet cleaner rentals and truck rentals.

The post How to Move Your Small Business appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

It is very rare for me to find anyone, anywhere, who is highly skilled at or at least comfortable handling conflicts. Most people avoid conflicts altogether or try to handle them through email or other indirect ways. These attempts can range from being ineffective to failing miserably. As a result, the people involved may hire a lawyer, which generally intensifies the conflict.

While I try to help my clients develop a skill-set in handling conflict successfully, sometimes the situation is complex enough that the smartest thing to do is to use a professional mediator (who may or may not be a lawyer).

Below is a valuable article from one of my former clients, Britt Ide, a lawyer and mediator. I encourage you to take a minute to read it and learn from her expertise!

Mediation saves time and money

by Britt Ide

What comes to mind when you hear the word “mediation”? Many people think of court-ordered mediation when parties well into litigation settle near the courthouse door. Mediation is also used in divorce and in employment disputes. Mediation concepts have broad, beneficial application to businesses.

While some disputes require a court resolution, most do not. In fact, some disputes should not be litigated because a court cannot provide the best resolution. Courts are limited to legal remedies. Business people can often create better solutions with business, rather than legal, solutions.

For example, a business contract dispute can be settled through the court or through mediation. You might be seeking improved contract terms. But the court can only grant money damages. Therefore, even if you “win” at court, a negotiated settlement would have been better for you.

Mediation also helps relationships continue. It can solve disputes with the public, customers, vendors, suppliers, and partners. Litigation is by definition an adversarial process. Many disputes need a collaborative resolution to preserve a relationship.

Principals of mediation can save us time and trouble. Picture this: Executives are sitting around a conference table bemoaning a vendor dispute. Instead of focusing on how to resolve the issue, they talk about why one side is right and the other is wrong. This approach leads to posturing, animosity, and expensive litigation.

Instead, try this:

1. Be aware of the other party’s perspective. Listen.

2. Consider: What does the other party really want and why?

3. Reduce your emotions and, for now, set aside why you are “right.”

4. Consider: What do you really want and why?

5. Then brainstorm solutions that both parties can accept.

For example, in the vendor dispute, you may feel that the vendor breached the contract with your business and overcharged you. You want money back but you are too far into the project to switch vendors. Your vendor may feel that they did their best but you did not explain what you wanted. Your contract is important to the vendor’s business. Instead of expensive litigation that would almost certainly delay your project and irreparably damage your vendor relationship, you and your vendor could benefit from informal mediation to understand the needs of each party. In similar situations, parties have been able to restate the contract to better explain expectations and reach a reasonable resolution on payment owed.

As preemptive planning to limit disputes, you also may want to include in your contracts, as I do for my business clients, a dispute resolution clause. It requires parties to try to negotiate a settlement to any contract dispute. If it’s necessary, it requires mediation by a neutral third-party before resorting to litigation.

Help is available for your business all along the dispute continuum.

This includes:

A. Strategic advisors to coach you through the five steps above, especially as an objective source for brainstorming ideas;

B. Attorneys to advise on legal issues early, even as you focus on business solutions;

C. Facilitators to help you meet with the other side;

D. Mediators to mediate between the two sides. These meetings are more formal than facilitated discussions. A mediator may meet with parties together and then “caucus” separately to develop mutually agreeable solutions;

E. Settlement counsel if you are already in litigation (before you spend a lot of money on litigation expenses, an attorney can represent you to try and settle the dispute with the other party);

F. Mediators for a litigation dispute in progress.

Less than two percent of cases filed in the U.S. District Courts reach trial. While some cases are decided on motions, many are settled during the litigation process. Wouldn’t you rather settle a dispute early before you spend time and money to litigate? Remember, the legal expenses you pay in litigation are only part of the cost to your business. Litigation also drains your team’s time and energy.

© 2012 Britt Ide

Britt Ide, J.D., President of Ide Law & Strategy, PLLC is formally trained in mediation at Harvard and practically trained by 20 years of finding solutions in engineering, law, business, legislatures, government, courts, nonprofits, and boards. She advises business clients on negotiation, mediation and strategy. Her expertise includes contracting, energy, sustainability, and intellectual property. She loves connecting people and ideas, and brainstorming solutions. www.idelawstrategy.com

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The post Is a conflict getting you down? appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

Buy or Lease: That is the Question

Whether your plans are to move into a new office building or to attain more equipment for your business, you always have to make the decision to either buy or lease. Before we go any further into that decision-making process, it is important to understand whether buying or leasing your business’ building or equipment is a better decision.

Leasing:

A lease is a contracted agreement that allows you partial ownership of an item for a specific period of time with periodic payments. When you lease a car for example, you sign a contract that grants you ownership of the car for a specified period of time. In return, you make periodic payments to the lessor (the person leasing you the car).

Leasing is a great option for business owners with a new or growing business. For example, your company grows in terms of business and staff. This is an excellent option when the office you are currently in has become too small, and you do not want to or cannot afford to buy a new office. If there is continued growth, leasing will also prevent you from having to invest a substantial sum of money into a property that might not be able to be able provide all of your future needs.

Buying:

When you make the decision to buy you are taking complete ownership of the object or property. If your company is stable and you are looking at a permanent office building, then it will probably suit you better to purchase a building.

When you lease an office building, there is no possibility to gain any profit off of the future sale of the building. When you buy, however, potential profit is possible if the value of the building appreciates. There is also a risk that the property value might depreciate, but you would still be able to sell the office building for money, whereas a lease would offer no such option.

Many aspects come into play when deciding to buy or lease, and they apply to every individual in a different way. For some the factor will be an advantage, and for others that same factor will be a disadvantage. Below are a few things to consider when buying or leasing.

Time:

Time plays a big part in the decision to buy or lease. A great example of this would be your company’s computer system. If your firm has to stay as up to date as possible with the ever-changing industry, then leasing is a better decision. This is because you have to update so often, that it would cost you way more to purchase every time. On the other hand, if your company doesn’t need to upgrade very often, then it is a better decision to just go ahead and buy.

Stability or Expansion:

We discussed this earlier, but it is important to understand where your business stands in terms of growth. If your company is still in growing mode, then it is a better idea to lease commercial real estate because you are not tied down to the building when you need to move again. However, if your company is stable, then it is a better idea to purchase the real estate.

Payment:

When you purchase, payments on that purchase will discontinue at some point. When you lease, payments continue until the life of the lease has ended. The purchase of an object, such as commercial real estate, will normally require a greater down payment than a lease. When you lease real estate, it will usually require a cash outlay for the first and last month’s rent.

Personal Preference:

A major part of the decision is personal preference. If you’re deciding on whether to buy or lease company cars it simply depends on your preference. If you like to have a new car every few years, then your best option is to lease, because the trade in value of your car plummets as soon as you drive it off of the lot. All you have to do when your lease is up is return the car and select a new car to lease. If you’re not the type to change cars frequently, then you probably would prefer to buy the vehicle.

Consideration of these factors when making a decision to buy or lease will help make the process move quicker and smoother. Your time is valuable as an owner; so planning early for any purchase will help your business stay as efficient as possible.

 

About the Author:

Bert Doerhoff is owner and founder of Accubiz, a firm providing accounting services out of Jefferson City, Missouri. Accubiz specializes in small business accounting, outsourced bookkeeping and wealth management. Prior to opening his own firm, Doerhoff worked for Peat, Marwich, Mitchell & Co, which is currently known as KPMG. Frequently, he speaks at state level and national conferences on various business management topics.

 

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The post Buy or Lease: That is the Question appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

We’ve all heard the statistics about how many businesses fail in the first year, the first 5 years,  etc. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that 49% of establishments survive 5 years or more; 34% survive 10 years or more. That’s better than the 10% figure I had always heard bandied about.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the other 71% necessarily “failed.” The owner may have sold his business, ready to move on to something else. She may have decided to return to the workforce as an employee or even may have retired.

However, only about one third of those who start a business are still running it ten years later, and I’m proud that I made it this far. I’ve worked with several hundred individuals since 2002, providing multi-year, in depth help with their small business or their career. Although they come from different business fields and have varied personalities, what I learn over and over again is how alike we all are. Our needs, goals, challenges and strengths are often strikingly similar.

To help celebrate my accomplishment and extend my enormous thanks – I am truly so very grateful – I will hold a drawing this month (and possibly more than one during my anniversary year), open to all subscribers. The winner will get one month of business or executive coaching from me at no charge. It’s strings free, absolutely no pressure to continue, but I figured why not give what I’m good at? I’ve coached people all over the US and Europe with a wide variety of businesses and careers, so chances are I can offer you some genuine assistance.

To submit your name for the June drawing, subscribers can simply send me an email at anne@authentic-alternatives.com with the words “June drawing” in the subject line, and I’ll put your name in the hat. I’m having my trusted friend Eston Roberts, a retired Brevard College English professor, pull a name out of a literal hat on June 22 and will notify the winner by June 25.

And please forward this on to friends and colleagues.

I always love to hear from subscribers, past clients and friends, so whether or not you want to be in the drawing, please drop me a line and tell me how you are doing.

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They included a small decal I could put in the window of my business that proclaims “Shop Small – support your local small businesses.” AMEX is offering a $25 credit to card members who register their card for the Small Business Saturday and spend $25 or more at businesses like mine. “It’s all about YOU” proclaims their mailing.

Yeah, right.

I admit, I’m cynical on this one. A gigantic corporation is trying to hop on the small business/shop local movement. It motivates me even more to move forward with my idea to develop a local complimentary currency. If you really care about local small business, check out a RelyLocal in your area. Judy McKnight of Rely Local Hendersonville is a genuine LOCAL business person doing a fantastic job of supporting local small businesses. And you don’t even need an AMEX card.

Also of interest: https://www.authentic-alternatives.com/systems/lost-my-data/

The post American Express: what a joke appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

Most small manufacturers are likely to start off running their business using a basic accounting package like QuickBooks or Sage Peachtree. These are great resources for most small businesses but they have limited functionality for the manufacturing industry. As such, most manufacturers will want to upgrade to a more sophisticated program, but one that is still affordable.

Two solutions are particularly well-suited to handle small manufacturers with few employees (50 or less). These solutions are Fishbowl Inventory and MISys. Both of these products can be used as add-ons to QuickBooks to handle the manufacturing specific parts of the operation.

Fishbowl Inventory is one of the most popular add-on’s to QuickBooks in the world and is known for having a very user friendly interface. The software is great for small manufacturers because the business can grow without having to change software. The system can serve manufacturers that make between $1 million and $100 million in revenue. Manufactuers will have to install the software on site but they will be able to access it through their favorite web browser so it is easy to use.

MISys has been around since 1979 and is currently supporting the operations of more than seven thousand manufacturers. Like Fishbowl inventory, the system is compatible with QuickBooks as well as Sage accounting products such as Simply Accounting. The manufacturing package allows modules to be purchased individually so you can customize what your business needs to run successfully. This is a great benefit as it will keep manufacturers from purchasing shelfware, or software that is never used and just sits on the “shelf.”

For more information on these and a few other systems, take a look at Derek Singleton’s article Small Business Manufacturing Software | 5 Affordable Options.

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The post Manufacturing software for small businesses: do your research appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

I use gmail’s calendar to email me reminders for ongoing scheduled tasks, everything from daily reminders like “clean office for 30 minutes” to one time events weeks or months in the future like “contact Felicia about social media project.”

But what’s cool about FollowUpThe.com is that you can send an email to someone else so they automatically get an email reminder, too, perhaps about a project you are working on together or a proposal you are expecting. In sales there are obviously many applications, since so much of sales is professional and relentless follow up. You can also use the “bcc” field to send the reminder just to yourself. The system has a lot of flexibility.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

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Alisha uses www.helpareporter.com to take advantage of possible PR opportunities but this time she benefitted from her amazing “attraction” energy, as she had nothing to do directly with this latest media coup. Beth Ostrosky Stern (Howard Stern’s wife) is a big animal lover and she suggested Alisha’s collars to People magazine for the holiday gift guide.

Congratulations, Alisha!

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Yet, we all know people can do the most unexpected things under certain circumstances, so it’s important not to get too lax with the controls in your organization.

I know business owners who hand the whole thing over to a bookkeeper, controller or administrator and never check the work or validate the information. Others are so afraid of fraud and embezzlement by employees that they refuse to let anyone else come anywhere near their financial books and systems. Either extreme will be bad for your business.

One of my small business coaching clients, Carl Shaw, a CPA in Hendersonville, NC, was telling me recently about a fraud situation that had recently been brought to his attention. A senior executive of a local business had been entrusted by the owners with all aspects of the organization’s finances. Cash receipts and deposits, ordering and paying for supplies, reconciling bank accounts, all done by this one executive… for more than ten years! When the owners recently discovered that there was not enough money in their bank accounts to cover their payroll (a nice way to say that paychecks were bouncing!) an investigation into the records uncovered that the trusted executive had stolen an amount totaling in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In addition to his tax and auditing work, Carl is a Certified Fraud Examiner and helps businesses and organizations set up systems of checks and balances to prevent fraud. He gave me some good info about fraud.

Fraud investigators have found that almost every fraud can be found to contain three common elements, commonly referred to as the Fraud Triangle. These three elements are:

1) Opportunity to steal without being caught, (there’s either not a system designed to prevent a fraud, or there’s an exploitable weakness)

2) Rationalization of why it’s OK in the mind of the perpetrator, (examples – I’m not being paid enough; I deserve more!), and

3) Pressure, external or internal that causes a need for money and gets the fraud started (for example an addiction, credit card debt, or a medical emergency).

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the world’s largest anti-fraud organization, does an annual survey to measure the extent of fraud in the workplace. Their 2010 survey showed that the typical organization loses 5% of its annual revenue to fraud. Applied to the estimated 2009 Gross World Product, this figure translates to a potential annual global fraud loss of more than $2.9 trillion!
ACFE reported that the median loss caused by the occupational fraud cases in their study was $160,000. Nearly one-quarter of the frauds involved losses of at least $1 million.

Just who is committing the fraud? The survey indicated the following statistics:

• More than 80% of the frauds in the ACFE study were committed by individuals in one of six departments: accounting, operations, sales, executive/upper management, customer service or purchasing.

• More than 85% of fraudsters had never been previously charged or convicted for a fraud-related offense.

• One of the most common red flags is employees who are living beyond their means (43% of cases) and experiencing financial difficulties (36% of cases).

• The median amount of each fraud is $80,000, much higher if the fraudster is a manager or executive.

• A typical fraud lasts for eighteen months before being detected.

The survey also pointed out that “Small organizations are disproportionately victimized by occupational fraud. These organizations are typically lacking in anti-fraud controls compared to their larger counterparts, which makes them particularly vulnerable to fraud.” Victim organizations that had these controls in place had significantly lower losses and time-to-detection than those organizations without the controls.

The lesson here is to be smart, not fearful. Every business and organization needs checks and balances and a well-thought out system to make fraud and embezzlement very difficult. The honest people will understand and those tempted will find it difficult to pull off.

Although Carl is very busy these days, as a true southern gentleman he offered to talk (no charge) to any of my subscribers who has a question about fraud prevention. (carl.shaw@cshawcpa.com or (828) 698-7725) Don’t let an iron grip on your financial system strangle your growth. With the right system in place you can let others handle most of that work and be free to focus where you’re most needed in your company – marketing and innovation.

 
 
 
Anne Alexander

The post The Fraud Factor appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

I’m not young enough to know everything, as J.N. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, was known to say. But one thing I do know is that if we never take time to stop and think about our business, we will miss out on a huge amount of success and fulfillment.

I work with many of my clients, often using Jim Horan’s One Page Business Plan, to do good planning about their business. Keep in mind, it is the thinking that benefits you, as much as the final document. Few people take the time to get away and really think about their business and plan for their continued success, i.e. to do less think more.

We have to physically get away from our business and take time to reflect. Not only do we need to think rationally about our business, we also need to get into a non-rational or intuitive place and let ideas and experiences, opportunities and problems all blend together in order to experience a breakthrough that pure rational thought alone cannot bring. “The ultimate solutions to problems are rational; the process of finding them is not.” wrote W. Gordon.

My small business coaching client Ron Zasadzinski, owner of the web design firm, codegeek.net , based in Fort Collins, Colorado, took this advice and booked two nights at a nice hotel in Boulder, an hour away from his business. He booked two nights so his one day retreat would be a WHOLE, uninterrupted day. Ron said it was one of best things he’s done for his business and plans to make this at least a quarterly practice. Do less think more works!

His fiancée was concerned that he’d spent too much money on a nice hotel for this retreat, but Ron and I agreed that it was the deal of the century given the clarity he got. He sent me his two page write up and it was very exciting to me because it laid out the path for the success he intends to create over the next five years.

You won’t be surprised to learn that Ron’s business has previously had solid success and is very well-regarded in his (highly competitive) field. With the retreats he is now taking, I believe he will be able to take it to that next level that he has been aspiring toward.

Henry Ford said, “The more you think, the more time you have.” Business success is definitely not all about just working hard. We know where that leads all too often: burn out. And sometimes total breakdown and failure.

Taking time to reflect about your business will actually free up time because you’ll come up with ways to be more authentic and more efficient, ways to get more done by using your company resources effectively, etc. You’ll create more time because you’ll find the courage to let go of the products or services or customers that are not really right for your business, and you’ll have the insight to take on ones that will take you to the next level.

Let me leave you with one of my favorite quotes, from George Bernard Shaw, one of the most famous writers of his time:

“Few people think more than two or three times a year. I’ve made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.”

So yes: Do less think more!

The post Do Less, Think More to Make Your Business Soar appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

My client, let’s call him Mike, has had interns working for him for the past few years. It’s a great way to keep his payroll costs lower (he pays them, but not a lot) and gives a younger person great experience in their new field.

Mike’s most recent intern, “Josh,” has worked with him part time since the beginning of the year. Josh has a professional degree and working with Mike has given him some valuable real world experience in his chosen field, and hopefully a good reference, as well.

Josh had another part-time job to make ends meet. My client had work lined up for him this summer, but just this week, on a day when he was expecting Josh to come to work, he got an email from Josh instead with the subject line:

hey

His message was that he had the opportunity to work full time in food services and so would be stopping his work as an intern with Mike. He thanked Mike and said eventually he would pursue an advanced degree in their field.

You have probably received a few emails like this, often from people in their 20’s (as Josh is), very informal, casual spelling and grammar – the kind you’d typically send to a friend. But, hey, at least he didn’t resign via a text message!

Mike, being the brilliant client of mine that he is, did NOT respond by email. He has Josh’s last check and intends to wait for Josh to come in to pick it up so they can have a little chat about how you resign in a professional manner. Mike is a great guy and a true mentor of young people. He wants to help Josh and will kindly let him know that sending an email is not a professional way to resign from a job and is not very likely to get him a glowing reference from Mike.

On the other end of the continuum is Mike’s secretary, Claire, a competent professional in her early 60’s. Mike was getting complaints from his other employees that Claire was unfriendly towards them, although she had impeccable manners and friendliness toward the firm’s clients.

When Mike sat down to discuss this with Claire, she talked about how she was trained not to speak personally with her boss or other employees. That was often the case 30+ years ago when she was starting out her career, but now the workplace has become less formal and a some friendly interaction with co-workers is the norm.

Mike had to let her know that it is in fact highly desirable that she engage in some informal chit chat with her co-workers. He assured her that he was not worried about any of them losing focus and not getting enough work done.

As is often the case in business (and life), somewhere between two poles lies the best course of action. Ask yourself where you fall on the informal/formal continuum and make some simple adjustments if needed. This can go a long way to improving your professional relationships.

Because, hey, let’s face it, it’s a balancing act.

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© 2018 Anne Alexander. All rights reserved.

The post Hey – A brief guide to office etiquette appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

Yesterday I was about to make a purchase when my browser suggested there was somewhat of a problem with the security of the shopping cart. Now, I’m a veteran online shopper and never had a problem . . . until last month. I ignored a warning message and someone got my credit card number and immediately (and I mean immediately) charged a plane ticket on it.

Of course the credit card company issued me a new card, but what a hassle. So now I’m a bit gun shy. And when this site had a bit of a problem, I hesitated and decided to order over the phone. I called and got voicemail, so I left a message.

Then last night I realized that I could actually make do without buying that piece of equipment. I lost my willingness to shell out the bucks. So when they called me back almost 24 hours later, I wasn’t buying anymore.

Little things tripped up this sale for the company. A problem with their shopping cart. Then making me leave a voicemail on their toll free sales line. Then not returning my call for 24 hours.

In my small business coaching and consulting services, I help my clients take a magnifying glass to their sales process from start to finish. It’s not only, how do you GET a prospect, but also where can you LOSE a prospective customer? Where DO you lose them?

Never stop asking these questions – fix everything you can!

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In a recent interview in Inc. Magazine, Tim Ferris, author of the best selling book, The Four Hour Work Week, said that while the title of his book was not meant literally, it was possible to dramatically increase your productivity by eliminating nonessentials and reestablishing strong boundaries.

He said: “You have to emotionally condition yourself to the point where you’re comfortable declining almost everything.” Being able to say “no” (diplomatically, hopefully, most of the time) is a true power tool that can radically change your work life.

Just like building a bicep, this “no” muscle requires heavy use and repetition to develop. But the rewards are huge – you’ll have the strength to protect your time and your focus.

In addition to being able to say “no” to the trivial, you have to focus relentlessly on your core areas of strength and focus on the 20% of activities and clients that produce 80% of your profit. Almost everyone has heard of the 80/20 rule, but when I really use it to analyze my time and productivity, I have always found that it is remarkably and consistently accurate.

So while a four hour work week is not remotely likely for most of the business people I know, a 40 hour one would be a great achievement.

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Yes, it’s April Fool’s Day and I got suckered by Google – and had a good laugh – a great way to start any day!

Google has been playing around with their search home page, dressing it up for various holidays like St. Patrick’s Day. I indulge them that, but mostly I really want them to stick to their wonderful usual clean, simple look. They’ve done a great job of branding, haven’t they?

But today Google’s home page proclaimed “Topeka” and a little link “Not in Kansas – learn about our new name” explained that Google is changing it’s name to Topeka. A little sign at their corporate HQ confirmed it, along with a press release.

I admit, I fell for it for about a minute and then it dawned on me that it’s April Fools’ Day. I sent an email this morning to my step-daughter not to waste her time calling or emailing today, because we were on to her April Fool’s Day hijinks. Nonetheless, I feel for Google’s trick.

Day in and day out I provide my business coaching to small businesses across the country. Everyone’s working hard, dealing with the challenges. I say as long as we can laugh at ourselves, we’ll be just fine.

Thanks, Google, for a good laugh today.

© 2018 Anne Alexander. All rights reserved.

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The post Topeka & Google – A Truly American Quality appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

I was 11 years old and the name, A.I.C. & M., Inc., (pronounced “ace and em” was derived from my initials, plus I knew that “Ace” had some marketing juice, at least it did back then (think Ace Hardware)!

Of course, I was the chief cook and bottle washer, the only employee. My most successful division was T.R.P. – short for “traveling rubbing parlor,” and my best and only customer of that division was my dad, who was what we now call a raving fan.

Although at that age I giggled whenever anyone tried to rub my feet, I understood that a business must deliver what its customers, not we, want.

I had already learned some key marketing lessons:

– the best form of marketing takes an educational approach (“The Understanding Booklet”)

– offer several levels of service and pricing (I had two levels of foot massage available)

– focus on benefits (“You are the master!” – who could resist that?)

– let people test out your products and services (“you can test us on a few things”)

– always have a call to action (“If you have a job to do, contact us!” – a little lame, but not bad for an 11 year old)

My second most popular division did not appear on the above marketing piece. It was my candy store. I bought candy from the local grocery store (Canada mints, as I recall) and resold them at a profit to my delighted customers, my mother and sister.

Yes, entrepreneurial qualities tend to surface early in life. However, whether we start earlier or later, we all must go through much trial and error to learn the ropes of starting and running a successful business.

No matter how awkward, lame or inexpert our first attempts may be, the brilliance is in starting, and then learning, tweaking and trying some more. Not every venture will pan out, but as countless real life success stories have shown, quantity eventually leads to quality.

So whether you’re 11 years old or 91, get out there and keep throwing stuff against the wall!

© 2018 Anne Alexander. All rights reserved.

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The good news is that I’ll be fine. But I know that things are rarely as simple as they appear. I am a firm believer that stress is the cause of most illness and I’m sure that is the case with my ulcer. My digestive system worked fine until I let my work/private life get out of balance.

It’s so easy to do, isn’t it? To check email or do a little work in the evenings or on the weekends.

I love that I truly enjoy my work, that it’s really not “work” to me. Remember the saying “It’s only work as long as you have to do it?” But even people who love their work must honor the need for oscillation – which is the ebb and flow of life.

This ebb and flow can be seen in nature – the cycle of day and night, the tide going in and out, as well as in our bodies with the waking/sleep cycle, our heart beating, resting, beating, resting, and our breath going in, out, in, out. In this 24/7 culture the pace is sped up, we can have “daylight” (thanks to electricity) all night if we want to. Not to mention that we can be constantly available by voice, email or text with cell phones.

But the price is high. Too high.

Over the years, I’ve gotten better at taking time off, relaxing and rejuvenating. Better at maintaining that boundary between work and play, downtime, rest, relaxation, social life.

But in 2009 I slipped. I moved from Colorado to North Carolina; I’m sure you know or can imagine the effort and energy involved in executing the hundreds of details required in the process of selling and buying homes and moving one’s home and business. And I also experienced for the first time the death of a parent when my dad died.

World renowned business consultant John Dudeck writes, “Studies show that revitalization plays a critical part in achievement. The average person can experience what’s called the revitalization effect. Every time we get totally away (and the key word is totally) from money-generating activities, the average person experiences 8 to 14 days of high clarity and achievement upon return.”

So a two day weekend that is free of any business, can give you a full work week or more of clarity and energy. A full week of true vacation (no work!), gives you two to three months of clarity, energy, productivity and creativity. Wow!

In 2009, I had months on end with no break.

So this month I’m blocking out my vacations for the whole year. If I don’t, it’s a lot harder to schedule them later.

Also, I am recommitting to revitalization days every weekend.

I invite you to do the same:

– Block out vacations now. One week per quarter is excellent. More is better, less if you have to. Just book them!

– Take at least one day a week that is totally free of business, including email. Two days is much better.

You’ll be amazed at how much better everything in your life goes – business, relationships, health. I’ve been successful at this in the past, and I’m looking forward to it again next year!

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Several of you emailed me and suggested I send my article to the dentist. I considered this and hesitated because I didn’t want to come off sounding arrogant. After some thought, though, I went ahead and sent the article to the dentist, marked “personal and confidential” along with a short note with the intent of being helpful.

A day or two after I mailed the article and my note, the dentist called me up! He was not defensive. He took responsibility and appreciated my feedback. He said he had shared the letter with his staff in one of their twice a day staff meetings and they had a good discussion about it and how to rectify it in the future.

I was very pleased. The upshot was I scheduled my appointment. I was happy about this outcome, because his practice really sounded like a good fit for me.

If you’re like me, you get sick of marketing hype and are wary of claims. Although this dentist sounded good from his website and subsequent materials that were mailed to me, I was waiting to see how it actually was being there as a patient.

I am pleased to say his marketing was not overblown. It was indeed the most professional dentist I have ever been to. I was given a tour of the premises, the dentist introduced himself and I sat in an automatic massage chair for 15 minutes before my digital X-rays were taken. (Those things are pretty darn good!).

For their clients they have snacks and drinks available. I was shown some excellent videos on a computer about various topics. The dentist was very down to earth and open to my opinions. The dental hygienist gave me a terrific cleaning. A week later I had some fillings repaired and again I felt I was in very skillful hands.

This is one of those great examples of an unhappy customer who, when their problem is addressed and handled, becomes a happier customer than they were before. (Although in this case, I wasn’t a previously happy customer, I was an “almost never” customer.)

The takeaway for us business owners: When a customer complains, be grateful for the feedback, thank them and take action!

© 2018 Anne Alexander. All rights reserved.

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Diapers.com CEO Marc Lore discussed his day to day life running the business and I gleaned three key lessons to share with you.

1. Superb customer service. The business spends about 10 percent of their marketing budget on flowers, gift certificates, massages and other goodies for their best customers. If a customer service rep sees that someone has been a really good customer and has referred other parents to them, they have the authority to send them a gift.

Do you empower your employees in this way? Or if you are a solo entrepreneur, do you consistently give gifts, rewards and other “thank you’s” to your best customers?

2. Fanatical data tracking and analysis. Prior to launching the company, Marc and his co-founder Vinit Bharara did extensive analysis of all aspects of their business including what the optimal number of boxes should be in their warehouse and what size the boxes should be. They took action on the results of their analysis and bit by bit added margin points. Their gross margins started at 4.6% and now are in the teens!

I’ve seen too many entrepreneurs neglect to pay close enough attention to their margins and it either drove them out of business eventually or caused them to net much, much less profit than they should have and could have.

Do you analyze your operations and review expenses regularly, with an eye to improving your margins?

3. Planning, visualizing and not much TV watching. Of his ambitious five-year plan, Marc says he “visualizes the path over and over again.” In the evenings, between family responsibilities, Marc researches, analyzes and plans things like pay-per-click and other elements of his business. A typical entrepreneur, Marc said “I don’t really watch TV at all. I much prefer working.” And part of his daily work is focusing on those all so critical “important, not urgent” areas of the business.

If you’re stuck all the time in do-do-do with no time to think, research, study, plan and strategize, your business will fall short of its potential.

Do you schedule time daily or weekly to focus and do quality thinking about the vitally important areas of your business (not just always putting out fires)?

I invite you to see if you need to strengthen your business in one or more of these areas. There’s no time like the present. As always, let me know if I can help.

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Prior to our move back to North Carolina, I did some research for a progressive dentist who uses digital X-Rays and non-mercury fillings.

I found one who looked great and on inquiring via email about any new client specials was told that yes, they had one for $157. This included a full set of digital X-rays, a cleaning and exam. This seemed like a reasonable price to me. I told her it would probably be later in August since we would need time to settle in.

Last week I called to set up my appointment. Again, I was very impressed with how the staff talked with me as a new client. I even had the thought that sometime in the future I would write an Ordinary Brilliance article about how great this business is.

I mentioned that I had talked with someone earlier in the year and that she told me the fee would be $156. There was no specific response to this, so I thought all was well. They sent out a very nice welcome packet. In the packet it listed the fee for my visit as $212. This was 35% more than what I had been told, so I called up.

This time, I actually got the same woman I had talked to a few months prior. Oh, she said, that was a special going on at the time, but not now. Oh, I said, well I told you then that I wouldn’t be arriving in North Carolina until a few months later and you didn’t tell me that special would no longer be in effect.

“Well, do you want to keep the appointment?” she asked.

“No, thanks.”

“We’re here if you need help in the future,” she concluded.

I was really surprised she didn’t honor the special. The result? The dentist “saved” $56, but in actuality they lost thousands.

What is the Lifetime Value of a Customer for this dentist? I don’t know about you, but I tend to see a dentist regularly, and the same one. Since I plan to be here for a very long time, this dentist missed out on 20 – 30 years of servicing my dental needs. I’m not sure what his net profit margin is, but I’m sure we’re talking thousands of dollars of net profits. I think he was missing the forest for the trees, as the old saying goes.

What about you – are you splitting pennies and not focusing on the long-term value of a new customer? You MUST know how long the average client stays with you and what their average purchases are per year.

Then, and only then, can you make a reasonable guess as to what you can afford to spend to get a new customer. Don’t make the mistake this dentist did and “save” a few bucks and miss out on thousands of dollars of profits. Know your numbers and empower your staff to do the right thing for your long-term business success.

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I did my part to support them and boost the local economy by getting some cat food. They did a good job passively upselling me at the checkout counter, as they had lots of cool little items for sale. I got two bumper stickers. Once says “Sleeps with dogs” which I gave to my partner and the other one is for me:

It’s on my desk, reminding me to keep the good energy flowing (I’m not a big barker, but sometimes . . .)

Nothing like something funny to sell stuff to happy customers!

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I recently came across a quote from Karl who said, “Life is being on the wire; everything else is just waiting.”

Are you on living on the wire, or just waiting?

To me, “living on the wire” means being where the action is, not waiting on the sidelines while you look to jump in. It means being fully engaged with your mission, being really alive.

Most of the time I live on the wire. It was living on the wire when we decided in 2006 to move 1500 miles across the country to a brand new community (Fort Collins, Colorado). There were social risks, financial risks and business risks.

After three wonderful years in Colorado, we decided we wanted to be closer to family and to deciduous forests and so moved last month back to the mountains of North Carolina.

Some people may have wondered if we were a little crazy to move after only three years, especially with the housing market near the bottom. It would have made more financial sense to stay put, since there are substantial costs involved in selling and buying, as well as moving.

Yet living on the wire requires us to trust ourselves to make good decisions, using our skills honed in the crucible of life’s experiences – that exquisite blend of knowledge and reason with our intuition and gut feelings. Then we can bravely step forward, focused on the wire, truly alive.

Living on the wire isn’t just about physical challenges or changes and relocations, though. It can also be about your internal attitudes and beliefs – not letting yourself play it too safe in your business and get complacent or waiting for things to change on their own.

Even when it feels like a high wire act, it’s important that you challenge yourself to grow new skills, such as learning how to better navigate conflict (a vitally important skill needed in both business and private life), how to delegate (one of the best skills anyone can master), or how to hone your marketing skills to grow your business to the next level.

It takes courage, determination and discipline to take calculated risks, which is what smart entrepreneurs do. They live “on the wire.” Life is too short to just play it safe. Don’t waste any more time. Get focused, take calculated risks, and experience being truly alive.

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My dad had written that he wanted to either be cremated or buried in something very simple. My dad’s wife wanted something nice, so we deferred to her wishes as the person closest to him. Although the casket wasn’t top of the line (that would be the kind with the “permanent seal”, gold leaf trim, etc.), the price tag was $4,000.

In providing my small business consulting services I meet a lot of great people. Interestingly, I’ve recently struck up a virtual friendship with Jane Hillhouse who owns a company called Final Footprint. We met through our membership in the Green America Business network. Her company provides eco-caskets and green burials.

Final Footprint offers a beautiful selection of caskets and urns that are available through funeral homes or direct. “Whether a simple pine or cardboard box, or an artfully crafted coffin made from bamboo or willow, all of our caskets and coffins display a simple elegance and respect, not only for the deceased, but for the earth. All are made from low impact, sustainably harvested materials. All are non-toxic and safely biodegradable. “

I sure wish we had known about Final Footprint when Dad passed away last month. Jane’s caskets run around $1,000 plus shipping and they’re made from sustainable, renewable materials. This would have honored my father’s wishes, as the frugal, environmentalist that he was. There are millions of deaths in this country alone every month, which represent an awful lot of material resources, not to mention the energy to produce them and the high financial expense for the survivors.

Jane is doing what entrepreneurs do: taking an existing category and adding something new and desirable.

What’s new: there is as we know a huge trend toward green, ecologically responsible products and the funeral industry is ripe for options in the sustainable category!

What’s desirable: people are paying through the nose for caskets, at a time when they are extremely emotionally vulnerable. In this recession, people are paying attention to pricing and if you offer a high quality product like Jane does, for a much lower price, that’s a market advantage.

So Jane takes an established products in continual demand – burial caskets – and makes them green and less costly. A recipe for success!

In their great book, The Knack: How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up, Norm Brodsky & Bo Burlingham say, “There is nothing more expensive than educating a market.” They believe that the ideal business is one where the concept has been around for a long time. The casket industry is certainly well-established. It’s not a new and revolutionary product category.

The authors say another criteria for a successful new business is that the industry is not only established, but also in some way out-of-step with its customers. Again, Jane has identified a demand that millions of eco-conscious baby boomers and their parents have for simpler, less toxic, more natural products for end-of-life times.

How can you take what you do in your business and add something new, something that people will need or want? The trick, of course, is that often your customers don’t even know they need or want something – we have to be clever enough to see the gap.

There are needs and wants all around us. Don’t reinvent the wheel, just find a better, cheaper or faster way to get people what they need and want. The world would be a better place if we all took regular time to think, not just do. So I encourage you to carve out an hour and brainstorm and daydream about how you could do just that in your current business or organization.

Anne Alexander

The post Something Old, Something New, Something Green appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

He was in many ways not an easy man. However I think his life has some lessons for us as we continue our efforts in our businesses.

One of his favorite sayings was from Ernest Hemingway: “Everything’s your own fault if you’re any damn good.” While I don’t believe this is true about everything, I do think there is much wisdom in it. When we take personal responsibility, we are empowered to change, grow and improve.

Dad’s heavy drinking and years of smoking as a younger man probably had a significant effect on his various ailments. But he never blamed anyone. He knew it was his own “damned fault.”

When corporate politics forced him out of the insurance company where he had worked for 29 years, he didn’t waste a lot of time railing against the injustice. He continued on to several other senior executive positions and was elected president of his industry’s national association.

Years ago, when one of my businesses encountered severe difficulties that precipitated a drastic restructuring, I didn’t blame my business partner. I took personal responsibility, cleaned up the mess as best I could and carried on.

So what’s going on in your life that you need to take responsibility for? Something that you’re ready to tackle, learn from, turn around and rise above?

Here’s a photo of my Dad on an expedition he co-lead with college pals in the Yukon in the early 1950’s. He was one tough cookie and I think mountain climbing was his way of rising above things.

Thanks for everything, Dad, the good stuff, the hard stuff, the toughness, and the underlying steadfast love. May we all remember what’s truly important in business and personal life: taking responsibility for our relationships with spouses, family, friends, colleagues, clients, customers and, yes, even strangers.

© 2018 Anne Alexander. All rights reserved.

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The article also makes key differentiation between what to use Facebook for and what to use Twitter for. I’ve gotten some clients from Twitter. I think it can be used successfully by small business owners, but you must have and implement a good strategy.

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While there’s no perfect solution for generating power, these babies rate pretty high in my book. I love looking at them, which cannot be said of the huge coal burning smoke stacks I passed by later in Tennessee.

Even just a few years ago, very few people were thinking about wind as a viable source of energy generation. Similarly, it’s amazing how many things we use or do or offer in our businesses today that we didn’t a few years ago. You’ve no doubt seen many changes in your own business. It may be changes in your products, services, location, ideal clients, production or operating processes, or other things. But change, as they say, is inevitable.

In business & marketing, we have to be flexible and open to new ways of generating revenue, serving our customers and delivering our products and services. There is usually some (or sometimes a lot!) of stress associated with change, yet we can truly see it for the positive expansions that it can bring to our businesses and our lives.

Let me share with you a couple of quick stories. As you read them, think about how you can evolve your own business game to benefit your customers and you.

Take residential real estate. One of my clients is the New York market manager for Redfin.com. Redfin is changing the traditional real estate game:

“Redfin is the industry’s first online brokerage for buying and selling homes, half Century 21 and half E-Trade. This means we know when you want to use the web and when you want to talk to a real person. Our goal is to change the real estate game in consumers’ favor by offering you more data, better-performing agents, and a significant commission refund.” I love it!

Here’s how a few of my other clients are shifting their businesses, embracing their equivalent of adding “wind power” to the mix:

* Buying a company that makes similar yet different (and patented) pet products when the owner of that company had to sell her business.

* Adding additional product lines, to stabilize and grow revenues for a home improvements business.

* Shifting from employee to consultant, with much greater flexibility and income.

* Working on a merger of two CPA firms to blend and mutually benefit from a tax expertise and an audit expertise.

Changes keep on blowing through!

So are you going duck for cover in the face of the winds of change? Or will you throw your kite into the air and maneuver it even higher? Opportunity is everywhere.

© 2018 Anne Alexander. All rights reserved.

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Afterward we headed up to the National Center for Atmospheric Research to participate in their guided tour. It’s supposed to be a cool place about weather and other things scientific.

However, no sooner did we arrive in the lobby when my partner, Susan began to feel dizzy and nauseous. They called in their onsite medical team, and discovered that Susan’s blood pressure and heart rate were alarmingly high. So they called an ambulance and soon we were heading over to the local ER.

At the ER, blood work and chest X-rays also revealed everything to be normal. After about four hours, we went home and by morning her blood pressure and pulse had returned to normal. In situations like this, it’s easy to imagine the worst, like heart attack and even death. We both felt this fear acutely and it took a few days for us to really calm down.

So…this was obviously not the birthday I had anticipated! The gift was pretty quickly evident, however, because my beloved partner of eight years is alive and well.

Sometimes, just getting back to “regular” life is a huge blessing! A regular day coaching with my wonderful clients, seems doubly miraculous. Eating healthy, plentiful food becomes even more of a gift. Answering emails is almost a holy act. Discussing business strategies with Susan, I feel like the luckiest person alive.

Most entrepreneurs need to do more planning and not go after their business in a random manner. Yet, as in life, business is what happens when we’re busy making plans. If seen in a wider perspective, rebuilding a database after a computer crash makes you giddy with relief. If your business endures a fire or a flood and no one is hurt, just putting the pieces back together and running normally becomes the most amazing blessing.

Life/business happens, and rarely according to plan. Yet there are always silver linings, if we look for them. When you see your life as the precious thing it is, you empower yourself, your loved ones and your business.

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My hair really is as dark as in that photo, but I’m proud of my gray ones, too. I’ve earned them!

So, big deal, right? I’m about to be 50 years old. WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?!

Because we all need those frequent reminders to be grateful and there’s nothing like a milestone event in your life – or in the life of someone you know – to remind you to take stock and count your blessings. Time truly does fly and you never know when your number will be up. Actress Natasha Richardson went skiing last week, fell and bumped her head and it was all over at age 45.

There’s no time like the present to re-evaluate and recommit to your purpose and passion here on earth. For me, one of my passions is helping small business owners thrive!

You hear a lot about passion these days and for good reason. Without passion – without deeply caring about your life and what you do – you can fall into a dreary pseudo-existence. I’m happy to say my clients all embrace their passions. They sell real estate in a creative new way. . .help people enjoy knitting . . . create amazing non-toxic kid toys or dog collars. . . make natural fertilizer… guide people on amazing eco-bike tours. . .and in many other ways bring their gifts into to the world.

So please don’t give up on your dreams or your passion. We need you!

As I prepare to celebrate 50 years, I wish you much joy, passion and some “moments of glad grace,” as William Butler Yeats once wrote. (Thanks, Mom, she loves that phrase!) For me those moments include swinging in my indoor hammock, hiking, playing with my dogs and cats, eating chocolate, and great conversations with family and friends.

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The post 50 What? appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

40%? Yes!

Not some breakthrough drug. Not a brilliant new surgical technique. Not a multi-million dollar piece of equipment, but a simple 19 point checklist of basic safety measures that takes two minutes to use!

I’m sure you use checklists sometimes or at least have at some time in the past. But I want you to consider how you can harness this simple yet incredible tool.

Check lists can be used in any area of business including operations, accounting, quality control, purchasing, sales and marketing.

If you don’t already have one, how about a prospect follow-up checklist? You could be looking at an increase of 20 – 40% just by following up more consistently and at least 7 – 9 times which is the average number of “touches” needed before someone buys your product or service.

One of my clients started creating checklists for producing each of his apparel items that his company makes. He designed it to help his employees reduce their errors and improve quality consistency.

One day he had to step in to help, and he used his own checklist. He realized it was a bit confusing and is working to improve it.

I use checklists in my business and personal life. I have one for creating this newsletter. I have a new client checklist for when a business owner first hires me. Although I’m a creative entrepreneur type, just like the hospitals, I have found that checklists save a ton of time and reduce errors.

I talked just this past week with a client about a checklist for one part of his business and he saw the wisdom and was going to implement one. See if there is one single area of your business that could benefit from a new or improved checklist and create one. Try it for a month or so and let me know how it works for you! And if you need help to put checklists to work today, contact me today for a down-to-earth coaching call, no charge.

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Dealing with criticism

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Apparently Japan is suffering it’s worst period economically since 1974. Still, that’s no excuse for behaving unprofessionally.

Nakagawa’s behavior is a good reminder for all of us. You probably don’t get drunk at business functions, but it’s a good idea for all of us occasionally to do a little self-check and make sure we’re coming across the way we want.

I love how satellite communication connects us so easily around the world. Yet one of the downsides in living in such a globally connected world is our missteps can spread far and fast.

We’ve heard about young people posting things on their MySpace page or similar sites which are not going to do them any favors in a few years when they’re looking for jobs and a prospective employer googles their name.

With more and more business people using social network tools like Facebook, Twitter, Xing, and Fastpitch Networking, just to name a few, we need to always keep in mind that customers and prospective clients can, will and do read what we post.

It’s vitally important for us to have places in our life where we can let our hair down, where we can gripe and moan, kvetch and vent. For my clients, one of those places is with me! And though it may sound strange or even bizarre to some, I am happy to be the container to hold all their “stuff” safely and without judgment.

Out in the world, they need to be professional. Sometimes a business coach helps his or her clients by listening to their venting when needed, before moving on to the solutions.

So figure out your top two methods to deal with your stresses and problems- vent with your coach, therapist, spouse or best friend, walk the dogs, hit the mountain trail or your bike, jump on your trampoline, write in your journal, write a poem, go bowling, play the piano. You know what works for you.

If not, your stress will creep out in tiny yet discernible ways. Or sometimes, as with Shoichi Nakagawa, very discernible ways.

Be careful before you speak too quickly or hit “send” too fast on that email or post. Stand up, take a few deep breaths, call your business coach if you need to :-), but above all, be professional!

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Lesson #1: Frugality for the good life

Mom was a child of the Great Depression. Her parents literally came over on the boat from Poland and both did manual labor to make ends meet for their family of seven. Yet, they always had a solid roof over their heads and good food on the table. (The other side of my family came over on the Mayflower, which makes me a typical American mutt.)

From this experience, Mom taught me the value of healthy frugality. She doesn’t waste things. And in business – especially in this recession – we need to be extremely good stewards of our resources.

Your greatest resource is people: you and your employees. When you truly get your employees on board with the vision and mission of your business, when you empower them, listen to them, and care about them, they can literally increase your business 25 or 50% or more.

Here’s an example: I just read in article in Inc. Magazine about a woman who owned a small upscale clothing shop in Missouri. She empowered her seven employees to get financially literate, teaching them about inventory turns and margins and how they relate. In October 2007 she did $55,000 in sales and a year later in October 2008 she did $81,000, in the midst of one of the worst recessions of our life times.

Lesson #2 Understand & use the wheel of life – wherever you are at the moment

Mom also taught me about the wheel of life. As a kid, I envisioned this as a Ferris wheel. She told me that things always cycle around – when you’re down, you will always come back up. Hard times cycle back to good times. My mom, an avid gardener, would probably put it in terms of nature – that winter always leads to spring and new growth. Keeping that perspective is vitally important at times like these!

Are you at the bottom of the wheel right now? Take heart. Remember the other times in your life when things looked bleak and you were ready to hang up the towel. Use that knowledge that you can get through anything.

Or perhaps you’re at the top of the wheel right now. Yes, even in our big, bad recession, some people are doing very well. I’m not telling you to start living in fear of the inevitable turn of the wheel. I’m reminding you to always have your Plan B, and Plan C. The most successful entrepreneurs are actually not really huge risk-takers. They take calculated risks, and hedge their bets.

One of my mentors recently reminded me that about 80% of the things you try in your business will fail, no matter how much you think they will do great. This means we will be “failures” most of the time!

Isn’t that amazing? In order to be very successful, you just have to fail more than others. You have to turn that wheel more times. So don’t be afraid of the low point of the wheel.
Just keep on turnin’. You’ll be at the top again before long.

You know moms are always right. So how can you apply my mom’s two business lessons today?

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The post Mom’s 2 Greatest Business Lessons appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

I was shocked to learn recently that she’s never had a review in all that time.

Another one of my clients works in a hospital system. He has two regularly scheduled meetings per month with his boss. One is an open meeting on whatever topics he wants to discuss. The other is more formal review of his 90 day plan and how it’s going.

No surprise–my hospital guy is a lot more satisfied with his work.

We humans need feedback. We need opportunities to discuss with our leaders how our work is going, how our goals are tracking and any problems we are having.

So if you own a business, make sure you are meeting regularly with your employees. You want to meet frequently as a team, and at least monthly one-on-one.

If you are an employee yourself and your boss does not meet with you regularly, take the initiative and ask for what you want. Years ago I worked in a small four person non-profit. I asked my boss if we could have weekly staff meetings. I felt it would be helpful to us if we checked in a little more formally, not just popping into each other’s offices on an as-needed basis. She agreed. Even in a tiny organization like that, we found those meetings very valuable.

If this sounds like a lot of meetings to you, I encourage you to try it for two months. I bet you will find that these meetings end up saving time in the long run and will make your business more money. Why? Because people, if left on their own, often get diverted down wrong paths. And because if people feel appreciated and cared about, research shows that they are more creative and productive.

Positive feedback–what someone did specifically and how it will help the business (or mate or children, in your personal life) is vitally important. Many surveys over the years have consistently shown that one of the top three things people want in their job is appreciation for work done. (While good pay is one of the top 10, it’s not in the top 3!)

Of course “constructive criticism” is important too. It’s crucial that we develop the ability to discuss with each other problems we are having with the other, and the best way to do that is early (before little things get big) and often.

I recently implemented a process with my assistant that’s working very well. Each day she emails me the answers to the following questions:

1. What you did and the results you got

2. Problems or challenges

3. Questions you have for me

It takes less than 5 minutes and keeps me up to date on both what she’s doing, as well as what problems and questions she has. This way, little issues get handled early, and frustration won’t build.

So don’t forget to give and receive frequent feedback, especially positive feedback. I like to be appreciated, too, and I truly believe you will thank me for the results you get!

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The post Leveraging Your People appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

Your authenticity is a huge key to prosperity.

Marketing guru Gary Bencivenga talks about something he calls The Credo Technique. Credo is Latin for “I believe” and Gary believes, as I do, that we must never be afraid to say “with clarity and boldness” what we believe about our business, products and services.

The strongest marketing, says Bencivenga, tells the truth. It doesn’t have to exaggerate or lie to gather customers. It relies on the integrity of you and your business to set you apart in an overcrowded marketplace.

In other words, your authenticity.

The Credo Technique is an expression of our core values “which serve as a clarion call to gather the like-minded faithful of your marketplace.” Although people do buy products and services that are less than authentic, ultimately they respond well and for a long time to authenticity. Your product or service may not even be the best quality, but if your marketing conveys accurately your authenticity and trustworthiness, you and your enterprise will thrive.

© 2018 Anne Alexander. All rights reserved.

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Thankfully, I eventually got back into the habit. But since then, I’ve been very careful to regulate my news input at a level that supports my well being, while still letting me be an informed citizen.

The fact is, we need a lot less news than we may think we do, and definitely a lot less than is available.

If your newspaper is like mine, it loves to plaster stuff every day about how bad things are with the economy.

Yet, in scanning the business page today, I noticed some GOOD news. Note the following items:

One of our local breweries is moving forward with a major expansion.

Vestas Wind Systems, the world’s largest maker of wind turbines is expanding its Portland Oregon work force from 350 to at least 1200 and building a 500,000 square foot office.

Nationally, Thanksgiving weekend retail sales were UP about 1% over 2007.

A local running shoe store had a 40 percent increase in sales over 2007 over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Additionally, one of my clients told me yesterday she continues at 20% growth over last year, when her competitors are reporting drops in revenues lately of 30% or more.

I thought that was quite a good bit of good news for your average Tuesday at the end of a year of recession. I guess it’s a bit like the glass half full saying. During the Great Depression, 25% of people were out of work. While that’s a lot of unemployed folks, the way I see it, this means that three quarters (75%) were working!

Yes, there’s plenty of bad news right now. So what do you want to focus on? I stay informed of national and world affairs, and it doesn’t take much to do that. To keep your positive energy up, you might want to do what one of my wise clients did last week – a news fast.

As for me, I choose to stay positive. In the fourth quarter this year, I brought on six new wonderful clients with really cool businesses, prepared to launch two new low cost/high value coaching programs, brought on an exceptional assistant, got my office 100% cleaned up and organized, and renewed my business plan for 2009. I know the only thing I “can’t afford” is to be negative.

So get out there and make your own news! And let me know if I can help.

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The post Your economy “glass”: half empty or half full? appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

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She wrote, “In racing, your fuel must be all your courage, skill and strength in your tank, including your spare tank, and you must plan to run dry just as you cross the line. When you do finally cross the line, the expenditure leaves you writhing in pain and gasping great tearing sobs for oxygen. This may not sound like fun. It isn’t fun. It is totally fulfilling.”

Based on experience in my own businesses over the years and working with my wonderful clients, I think that running a business is pretty much the same way. You wouldn’t necessarily call it fun, but it can be totally fulfilling. And sometimes, it’s fun, too.

Whether we own a business or not, we are called, like Sara Hall, to use all our courage, skill and strength to cross the various finish lines we encounter.

When we really give it everything we’ve got – and use our “spare tank” too – we experience the fulfillment of a worthy endeavor, whether we “win” or not. We have used ourselves for a noble purpose, as we have defined it.

For Sara Hall, rowing was her way out of an abusive marriage, a way to find her incredible inner (and outer) strength and her self-confidence. In business most people must uncover their unknown reservoirs of confidence, too, to keep going in the face of all the challenges.

Have you ever experienced any of the following situations? All of them have happened to my clients:

 Your key salesperson quits one day in your peak selling season.
 You get an unexpected whopper bill from the insurance company.
 Your computer crashes and you haven’t backed up everything.
 Your boss is indicted for fraud.
 Your best customer goes over to a competitor.
 Your mate and kids start to forget what you look like.
 There’s a bug in your software that can’t seem to be fixed after days on the phone with
tech support.

You can no doubt add a few of your own!

However, I think it’s also important to remember the fulfilling parts about our businesses. Here are gifts offered by some of my clients to appreciative customers:

 Your company provides home health care to an elderly person.
 You remodel a forty year old kitchen to the delight of a large family.
 You publish a book that brings readers pleasure, knowledge and skills.
 You give your client a great audit that they need to assure their supporters that they are in 100%
compliance with all laws.
 You manufacture a natural fertilizer for farmers who grow wonderful food.
 You make exquisite dog collars that bring joy to their owners.
 You help IT companies solve problems for their clients.
 You give hundreds of kids a great experience at summer camp, helping them grow as human beings.
 You provide customers with incredible clay walls that bring warmth and delight to all dwellers and
visitors.
 You provide the best hosting in the world to thousands of websites while using the profits to
promote social and environmental justice.

These are some of the things my clients do for their customers. I’m proud of them and of what they do. They use their courage, skill and strength in their pursuit of contributing to the world through their business.

Are you giving your work your “all”? Are you crossing the finish line, completely spent, but totally fulfilled? If not, see my special offer below. If you are, I congratulate you on using your talents to their fullest!

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The post Not Always Fun, But Totally Fulfilling appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

It is a riveting tale and I literally could hardly put the book down.

Out of 45 passengers, 16 people survived injuries, sub-zeros temperatures, avalanches and had no choice but to eat the flesh of their dead companions in order to survive. When they realized no rescue was coming, the author and a companion scaled a mountain that would intimidate fully equipped technical mountain climbers and walked 45 miles in nine days until they met a shepherd and got themselves and their companions rescued.

The story is wrenchingly honest about the emotions, the constant fear, the questioning of God and of “why me?” and how they used their team training as members of a rugby team to survive.

The story gave me several gifts especially:

1. It gave me renewed perspective about the “problems” and challenges I am facing.

2. It helped me understand that we all have our “personal Andes” story or stories – challenges,
misfortune, and struggles that seem completely against all odds to turn out well.

3. I was inspired by their courage, inventiveness, team work and sheer guts.

I know many of you, like me, have faced some exceedingly difficult situations, where the odds seem stacked against you and you don’t know if you will survive.

Maybe you’re in such a situation now. At times like these, we must use the stories of others to inspire us, help us find our inner hero, and take another step.

Author Nando Parrado wrote that it was his love for his father and his desire to see him again that kept him going against all odds. (His mother and sister who were also on the plane had died.) At one point when he was sure he was going to die, he had an epiphany that the opposite of death was not life, but love. He stated, “only love can turn mere life into a miracle, and draw precious meaning from suffering and fear.” His circumstances, no matter how overpoweringly bleak and crushing, could not stop him from loving. It was an insight that changed his life.

So whether you’re facing a business challenge, an illness, financial crisis, relationship failure or other situation that seems unsolvable and impossible, I hope you are able to claim the courage and insight that will help you weather the dark night and experience your own version of a miracle.

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The post Surviving The Impossible appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

You have probably started to notice that some savvy business owners are helping customers and prospects compensate for this situation by offering free gas as an incentive to come into their stores or as a bonus when they make certain purchases.

In the past few weeks in my local paper I have seen a hearing aid that offered buyers a $100 gas card and a bank that offered new account holders a $50 gas card. A client of mine who does auto window tinting is offering customers a $100 gas card when they buy a $249 tint job. This promotion is bringing a lot of customers into his store where he sells 90% of them!

What these business people are doing is converting this reality of skyrocketing gas prices into an opportunity for their business by offering their customers free gas certificates.

Virtually every business in our community is offering some type of incentive — you see it every day. They’re used to promote business and lead generation. You have to have something that really gets people excited. Free gas is obviously something that most customers or potential customers can really use.

Using incentives like free gas certificates can accomplish a lot of things:
• Make your customers very loyal
• Increase your profit margins with no additional advertising
• Dramatically increase sales
• Promote higher margin sales
• Increase the length of service agreements
• Increase new customer traffic
• Offer promotions that tower above the competition
• Gain valuable information on potential customers
• Retain current customers
• Re-energize old customers
• Express appreciation
• Generate local media “buzz”
• Provide high-value, low-cost gifts

Whatever your business, you can offer an incentive. You can offer an incentive to test drive a car, to purchase a sofa, to spend X amount on golf clubs, to get your carpets cleaned, to upgrade a computer, to rent a car, to come in for a review of your tax, financial or estate situation, to try out a new health club for a month, etc.

As it turns out, oil companies are fiercely competitive. They are paying for loyalty. That is why business owners are not paying dollar for dollar for these certificates. These gas certificates cost pennies on the dollar. For example a $100 certificate costs as low as $10 and a $500 certificate as low as $14.

Banks, auto warranty companies, resorts, and many other kinds of companies pay anywhere from $10 to over $200 for a lead. Why? Because they know their conversion rates and the lifetime value of their customers!

Do you?

Whether you offer something like free gas cards or some other incentive, as long as you know your numbers, if you are making a satisfactory return on investment, you can afford to offer that type of incentive. Not only can you afford it, you’d be crazy not to do as much of it as you can!

It’s the same with the oil companies. They know people are habitual. And they want you to habitually choose their brand of gas, which is what the gas cards do.

So know your numbers: what you can afford to pay to bring in a prospect? You’ll need to know what percentage of them you can convert them to a paying customer. Then use a powerful incentive like free gas cards to bring them in and grow your business, even during a recession.

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With Strategy #5 he discussed what he calls the referability habits. No matter what industry you’re in, how big or small your company is, or how skilled or innovative you are, he has found in over 30 years of coaching successful entrepreneurs that there are four key habits you must have to be someone that people are excited to refer customers and clients to. He calls these habits your passport to the future.

The four basic habits are:

– Show up on time.
– Do what you say.
– Finish what you start.
– Say please and thank you.

Surprising, isn’t it? You might have thought the keys would be things like exceptional skills, intense charisma, or brilliance. But when you stop to think about it, you probably know super smart people who you would not refer business to, because they are arrogant or ungrateful.

You also probably know wonderfully charming people who you would not refer to because they don’t come through with what they say they will do.

What about colleagues who are almost always late to meetings? How respected do you feel by that person? Again, they are probably not someone you would refer to.

I’m part of a wonderful mastermind group. Recently, we decided to ask one member to leave. Although she is brilliant in some key areas and a very fun person, she missed a lot of our calls and she doesn’t answer calls or emails from members.

How do you feel when someone doesn’t come through with what they promised they would do?

How do you feel when they don’t offer a simple word of thanks or when they bark out a request, instead of being polite about asking?

These habits communicate respect. They communicate that you do not take anyone for granted. If someone does not feel respected, it doesn’t matter how brilliant, talented or charming you are. Sullivan says, “Respect means you recognize and are aware of other people’s goals, schedules and values.”

I encourage you to take a look at where you fall short with one or more of these habits and then recommit to them. Make these four behaviors the foundation of your personal and professional behavior. As you model them for your team or organization and impress them into the culture, everything in your personal and business life will transform.

 The power of incentives

Anne Alexander

The post The Secret To Doubling Your Referrals appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

Part of being highly effective is having great systems, including safety systems within your business. I’ve been backing up my documents daily using Carbonite, so I knew I should have all my documents intact, other than in the last 24 hours since my last backup.

Also, earlier this year my computer guy (one of my “platinum” team members) suggested I get an external drive and do an image back up of my whole computer using Acronis software. I did. Last night, he installed a new hard drive and used my image back up to fully restore my computer – ALL programs, settings, software, operating system, the whole deal.

Since I had never tested my backup before, I was nervous. So when he called this morning saying all was working, I was immensely relieved.

In less than 12 hours, I had survived a hard drive crash. Life is back to normal. Amazing, isn’t it, how you can feel on Cloud Nine when things are back to normal? Like when someone almost crashes into your car, but you’re fine, or you think your investment portfolio might drop 25% because of a certain situation, but it doesn’t? Before the incident, you felt average, OK, but after – when everything was back to “normal” – you feel ecstatic.

In the case of my computer, however, prior planning prevented a humongous mess and significant challenges for my business. Working on small business marketing day and day out, I have a lot of files that would be hard to replicate.

So whether you’re in Fort Collins, Florida, Fiji or anywhere in between, make sure you’re prepared. Many of life’s challenges are preventable.

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Anne Alexander

The post Hard drive crash appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

The creator of Talk In A Box is Stan Scott. Due to the confidential nature of my work, I don’t often get to brag on my wonderful clients. However, one of my clients wants the world to know about his wonderful creation. I was a customer and a fan of Talk In A Box even before he hired me.

Like many people, Stan got a great idea for a product. It was an outcome of his mission as a professional facilitator to help change the world through powerful conversation. He worked for several years refining his concept and creating the game. He had it professionally designed, raised the capital and got Talk In A Box produced.

That’s a lot more than most people who have a “great idea,” but never do anything with it. Now, Stan is ready to have his product reach a wide audience.

So what’s one of your favorite indulgences?

What song reminds you of a specific event or time in your life?

What is an edge that you’re interested in exploring?

What is it that you are glad is not the way it used to be?

When I hear your answers to these questions, I will know you better than I do now. You will be much more of a real person to me.

You can play Talk In A Box with your spouse, partner, growing or grown children, other family members, friends or colleagues. I went camping recently with an old friend and we answered a few questions before nodding off to sleep in our tent (see photo).

And you can play it at coffee shops, cafes, even pubs, at the beach or around a campfire, traveling on an airplane or on a cruise, at a party, a family reunion or on a retreat, before sleep with your spouse, or during holiday gatherings. All for less than the cost of dinner and a movie.

As a Talk In A Box player, you are not asked to win, to be faster, more knowledgeable, more creative, more expressive, more witty, or more lucky. You’re simply invited to show-up, be curious and listen, reflect and express yourself authentically, respect yourself and others, and laugh at yourself and with others. Every player can be a winner, enjoying the prize of connected and deepened human relationships.

I’ve had a lot of fun playing this game. I invite you to check it out, too, at here.

The post What’s Your Favorite Indulgence? appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

The post Changing The World One Conversation At A Time appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

Now, in the right context, I don’t necessarily have anything against boogers, cigarettes, loud conversation or hairy calves. But at a nice restaurant, it didn’t fly and I wasn’t planning on returning anytime soon.

However, unlike most of your customers who never complain, they just stop using your products or services, I emailed the restaurant to let them know of my experience (since it’s my mission to help businesses, whether their my clients or not). I received a very nice email back thanking me for the feedback. Apparently that employee will not be working there much longer and she’s sending me a gift certificate. So, guess what? I will be back.

Are YOU aware of the things about your business that are annoying or off-putting to your customers or clients? You won’t know unless you make it part of your mission.

If you’ve been in business awhile, I bet it’s been some time since you really did some research on your target market’s needs and wants. Or possibly, you’ve never done this, in which case there’s no time like the present!

It’s extremely important that you understand your best client’s needs and wants as accurately as possible. Unfortunately, we tend to assume we know. After all, we own a business – we know everything, right?

Remember the ancient saying that those who think they know, don’t know, and those who think they don’t know, know. We all need to recover our “beginner’s mind” and not make assumptions.

Luckily, you can easily conduct your own research, whether through an online survey, mailed surveys or third party phone calls. When you do, I guarantee you will find some golden nuggets you can act on immediately to improve and grow your business.

First ask yourself, what END RESULT do your prospective customers want from:

Your product or service:

Doing business with you:

Next, determine who you will survey:

Suspects

Prospects

Shoppers

Customers

Clients

Advocates

Raving Fans

Former clients

Design a Needs And Wants Analysis Questionnaire. Here are some sample questions:

What do they expect from this type of product or service?

How long have they used this type of product or service?

What has been their experience in the past?

What is their biggest frustration with the products/services they’ve used in the past?

What do they expect from the provider (company) of this service?

What is their past history/experience with other salespeople?

What is their biggest frustration with businesses in this field or area?

What made them choose the type of product or service they currently have?

What made them choose the particular salesperson or company they’re currently with?

What is the most important consideration for choosing this type of product/service?

What is the most important consideration for choosing a salesperson or company?

If they had a magic wand and could construct an ideal buying experience, what would it look like?

If they could construct an ideal ongoing client/salesperson/company relationship, what would it look like?

How often would they like to be contacted with new information, or be contacted by their salesperson or company service person?

Do they prefer being contacted by phone, mail, or email?

Do they prefer being contacted at home or at work?

If you’d like to receive some sample surveys, as well as a list of over 80 additional questions you might want to consider, drop me an email and I’ll send them right out to you.

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Let’s say you and your team has been working their tails off for many months.

Let’s say it’s an absolutely gorgeous spring day, in the low 70’s, no humidity.

Well, if you’re like this client of mine (who gave me permission to share this story), you’ll get a “wild hair” and close up shop for the afternoon and take everyone to the zoo!

My client, let’s call her “Jane,” and 14 of her staff went on a spur of the moment “field trip” to the zoo. They had an absolute ball! After all, it’s not every work day you get to pet four inch cockroaches and ride a carousel with your colleagues.

Jane also gave some funds to a few of her staffers to buy animal toy gifts from the gift shop. The next day everyone got one of these as a memento for their desk to help them remember the fun they had.

This little outing gave her staff a huge morale boost. They had a great time and got to connect with each other on a personal level. Jane used to do more of this when her staff was smaller, but like many of us, over the years, some of those good habits had slipped.

The next morning, her staff came to her office and gave her flowers and a thank you card. One of them commented that “you throw the best staff meetings!”

If you have a staff, when was the last time you celebrated with them, maybe even for “no good reason”? If you work solo, you still need to get out and have some fun, refresh yourself with something out of the ordinary.

In The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner, one of the best selling leadership books of all time (and my leadership bible), one of the five leadership practices is called “encourage the heart” and one of the two corollary commitments of that practice is to “celebrate the values and victories by creating a spirit of community.”

This is exactly what Jane was doing last week when she took her team to the zoo.

“Community may not be the stuff of ordinary organizations, but it is the stuff of great ones, ones with strong cultures,” said Kouzes and Posner.

What can you do this week to celebrate your company culture and your team?

See you at the zoo!

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FOCUS:

F = Follow
O = One
C = Course
U = Until
S = Successful

Follow one course until successful.

It’s true that many of your ideas could be profitable and make a great impact on the world. Yet, without focus, not even one idea will become successful.

However, if you focus on one thing long enough, you will figure it out. Keep trying and testing until you find the key that works for you!

David shared a few other ideas on how to stay on track:

1. Create a vision of what business will look like when it’s successful. Put samples or mock ups of your products on walls. Make a vision board of what you’re working to achieve.

2. Put on your opportunity blinders. Make a commitment to yourself not to jump on any more “bright shiny objects” that come along. There are many more great opportunities out there than you can ever possibly take advantage of. Remember the power of F.O.C.U.S. if you really want to succeed.

3. Create a two year plan with milestones and convert into a timeline that visually shows the milestones. Put it on your wall. In my experience, most people resist planning. Planning is not an administrative task. It is one of the highest level activities you will ever engage in.

Your plan will undoubtedly change. Yet doing the thinking to create one as best you can, establishing milestones and benchmarks and making all of this visible in a visual format, will make a huge difference in the odds of your being successful.

4. Hire a business coach. [David is not himself a business coach.] This will return 10x and help you stay on course. Just today I received this email from a client (unsolicited)

“I thought that you offered a lot of value today, on several different levels. It is helpful for me just (!) to have the structure of the calls, and the list of what I’m working on, you have GOOD ideas (and a quick mind, I LOVE THAT), and are good on details, like the verbiage on the postcard, and those things are all valuable. I appreciate you!!”

5. Tell everyone you know what business you’re in and what your goals are. There’s nothing like the pressure of other people’s expectations to help you stay true to them!

Remember as a kid how you could burn a leaf by focusing the sunlight through a magnifying glass? Keep that kind of focus and you WILL be successful.

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I learned recently that 11 years ago one of my fellow Rotarians – I’ll call him Anthony – was diagnosed with Stage 3 lung cancer. Apparently, it was close to Stage 4. Two different doctors told him to go home and prepare to die. He consulted with another one who saw it differently. Anthony decided to fight. He radically changed his diet and other lifestyle factors and embarked on numerous traditional and alternative therapies. The survival rate for that stage lung cancer is very small, yet he’s alive today, an elderly gentleman with a wonderful twinkle in his eye. He beat the odds.

If you follow football, you know that the NY Giants beat the New England Patriots in this year’s Superbowl. It was an incredible game down to the final seconds. The Patriots were favored to win by two touchdowns. With little over 2 minutes left in the game, the Giants were behind by 4 points. They pulled it out and scored, beating a team which was 17 – 0 coming into the Superbowl. They beat the odds.

So right now, what are you facing where you need to beat the odds? How will you endure and overcome that particular obstacle and do more than survive, but thrive?

When you face your next daunting challenge, remember the NY Giants, remember Anthony, and most importantly, remember how you have beat the odds in the past. Take heart within yourself. Surround yourself with people who believe in you. Gather your courage and take one more step forward.

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Here’s a quick story about the external capacity side of the equation. Recently, a local massage therapy business in my city offered a special: four massages for $100. This was 50% off or $25 per massage – a great deal. I had not yet tried out this salon, but still I snapped up a couple certificates (their limit), figuring with a number of therapists to choose from, I would find one who I liked.

Their campaign was a huge success. So much so that I think it blew their circuits and overloaded them with all the massages people were now scheduling. On top of that, two of the four therapists left for various reasons. All of a sudden, they had a huge waiting list to get a massage. As I write this now, I’ve been waiting for a month and my neck and shoulders are not happy campers!

Although I give everyone the benefit of a doubt, my opinion of that business is wavering. Meanwhile, I’ve scheduled a massage somewhere else. It’s possible the owner’s successful marketing campaign will backfire on them, especially if I enjoy this other place more. Or if their customers get tired of waiting and demand a refund.

On the internal capacity side of the equation, a new client of mine needed more business. Then she got five new clients in a matter of weeks. This surge in business highlighted her lack of functional organizational systems as well as her inner beliefs about whether she deserved success. I’m confident that as we work through these challenges she’ll be ready to handle the number of clients she ultimately wants.

It’s vitally important to ask yourself: Is my capacity set up for the success I want?

Do whatever it takes to identify, shift, eliminate and transform the external capacity issues you have. These could be inadequate production or inventory space, blocks to hiring new staff quickly when you need it, or a lack of capital for new computers or other equipment. And remember, you also have to change the internal attitudes and behaviors that are stopping you from your abundance.

If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get my massage now!

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The bottom line is that the more people you have to communicate with, the number of possible interactions increases geometrically. Consider this amazing information:

• 3 people = 3 possible different communications

• 25 people = 300 possible different communications = 8x more people = 100x increase in communications complexity

• 50 people = 1,225 possible different communications = 17x more people = 408x increase in communications complexity!

• 100 people = 4950 possible different communications = 33x more people = 1,650x increase in communications complexity!!

• 1,000 people = 499,500 possible different communications = 333x more people = 166,500x increase in communications complexity!!!

(Source: Six Discipline of Excellence by Gary Harpst)

In other words, when there are three people in an organization, there are three possible communication combinations (persons A + B, A + C, B + C).

In a 25 person organization there is an 8-fold increase in the number of people but a 100–fold increase in the communications combinations.

In a 100 person organization is 33 times the size of a 3-person organization but 1650 times more complex from a communications perspective.

Bigger businesses try to handle this complexity by creating layers, divisions and departments. Yet we know from how we sometimes laugh at Dilbert how ineffective most of these are.

In smaller business or organizations, problems and opportunities can be communicated much more quickly and decisions can be made. You’re more flexible and can adapt to market changes much more quickly. Good communication is at the heart of successful business.

To maximize your small business/organization communication advantage, make sure to follow these simple guidelines:

• Stick to observable facts and stay away from evaluation or diagnosis. Example: Say “You didn’t bring me the report by last Friday.” Instead of “You blew off the deadline for the report and totally screwed up!”

• Stay away from extreme language and don’t use words like “always,” “never,” “usually,” or “most of the time.”

• Avoid judgmental words like manipulated, ignored, put down, blown off, misled, left hanging, etc.

• Focus on solutions by stating clearly and simply what you want the person to do.

Good communication takes practice, so go easy on yourself and don’t expect perfection right out of the gates.

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Most people have default teams. They haven’t consciously picked their team members and so what they have is often a pretty mixed lot. Some members may be highly consistent, positive, and fun, while others may be unreliable, irritating or worse.
Your team members can include your spouse or partner, employees, accountant, financial advisor/stock broker, child care provider, computer technician, business coach, plumber, handy person, house cleaner, car mechanic, travel agent, landscaper and more.

For example, my financial advisor is super. When I first started working with her, unlike some of the big name firms, she didn’t require that I have a huge amount of money to open an account. She thinks big and creates big results for her clients.

Another team member who is invaluable to me is my accountant. When I had a question the other day, I called her office and found out she was home with a sick child. Five minutes later, she called me from her home. (Her son was resting.) How’s that for outstanding customer service? No charge for the conversation, either.

Then there’s my computer technician who learned how to build computers in the Navy and is stumped by nothing. He charges fairly and is highly competent. In my business, along with my telephone, my computer is my number one business tool, so you can see how important he is to my professional success!

All my team members are fantastic people, caring, highly competent and service oriented, just as I am with my clients. I have chosen them carefully. Don’t put up with anything less for your team.

Remember that the only thing constant in life is change, so accept that over time there will be some changes to your team and be prepared. Have backup suppliers or service providers. If you have employees, don’t be surprised when someone moves on, and keep a file of possible candidates, people you have noticed in your community who might be a great fit for your team.

Take a minute to look at your team. How high do you rate them? If you don’t rate your team at least an 8 out of 10 (10 being amazing), then you need to take a hard look at it.

We have a huge tendency to become like those we surround ourselves with. We tend to have the same income levels, the same ambitions, the same degree of risk taking and growth orientation. So be sure to create a designer team, one that supports your success and that you can count on. The results will amaze you.

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So, what is a time termite? Time termites are activities you do or actions of others that “eat up” your time and destroy the beautiful design of your life. Just like real termites can take down a whole house if left unchecked, time termites may seem small, but they can destroy your life. You must design your life to strongly protect against the situations and people that will run right over you and eat up your life – if you let them.

The reason I get so “violent” is that, in my experience coaching hundreds of business owners and professionals – time termites eat up as much as 25 – 50% of your time. Only a very energetic, intelligent and vigilant approach toward protecting your time will work.

Some of the top time termites, based on my unscientific experience with hundreds of clients, include: wasting time on trivial items, waiting to see the boss or manager, meetings without good agenda and/or facilitation, too many reports to write, problems in locating documents or other needed items, phone & email, complainers and whiners, inability to say “no” – saying “yes” to too many people, and interruptions.

Let’s look at just one of those. I have a client who has people contact him at various times about in-person meetings. He is learning to consider these carefully. While it is definitely important to have “face time” with colleagues to keep his relationships fresh, a lot of the time he can accomplish the task at hand much more expeditiously over the phone.

My client has 40 or so hours each week to run his business, so a 1-1/2 or 2 hour meeting (when you include travel) equals about 5% of that time. If he went to two such meetings per week, that’s 10% of his time! Since he can handle most of them on the phone in a quarter to one-third of that time, you can see this is one time termite he’s squashing in a hurry.

Whether a meeting is in person or on the phone, if you keep it focused and on task, you can take the time you save and use it for quality time with the professional or personal relationships that make the most sense.

There are many other strategies and tactics to exterminating time termites. To stick to my one-minute guideline for Ordinary Brilliance, I can’t go into them all right now. But you are creative and resourceful and have a lot of ways to deal with your time termites. I invite you to pick just one time termite and set your intention to exterminate it in the next 30 days.

Let me know how you do with it and then I’ll be happy to have you as a proud member of the elite Time Termite Exterminators Club.

© 2018 Anne Alexander. All rights reserved.

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KnockKnock

Check it out today!

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Since we were unable to understand what Grace wanted, we had to make a decision as best we could. Her quality of life sucked, and the vet said she was definitely suffering.

So instead of putting her through fluid injections and tests and X-rays and God knows what treatment for what the vet said would be either organ failure or cancer, we euthanized her.

I hate that word. Let’s say it like it is: we killed our own dog. A mercy killing. I know many of you have been through this. I have before, but it’s so hard every time.

We took her ashes to her favorite river and let her go. As is often the case with people in our lives (generally speaking), Grace was a mix of sweetness and -well – the opposite.

She barked a ton. She was a cattle dog and was very territorial. She chased our other dog upstairs, because she was intruding on Grace’s territory. She nipped at us. She rubbed her butt on the carpet.

And we loved her.

As quoted in the bestbook on leadership I know, The Leadership Challenge, Former US Army Major General John H. Stanford said “The secret to success is to stay in love.” We’ll always love Grace. Go spread some of your love today.

Thanks.

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This truth was brought home to me recently when a friend who lives in Minneapolis told me about the ArtCar parade she attended in late July. This parade has been an annual event for 11 years, featuring the whackiest motorized vehicles you have ever seen. One of the best was the Couchmobile. My friend described the scene: cruising down a main drag in the city, a young man sat serenely in a traditional couch that swung around in gentle circles as it glided down the street. I was already laughing and then I viewed a 35 second video clip of it and it got even funnier.

I am grateful that creative, fun-loving people are out there doing things just for the joy of it. They make us laugh and get the all-important perspective that life is not meant to be serious all the time and that we’ll actually achieve more of what we want by having more fun.

Yes, life does have its serious moments. Many of them, in fact. Our businesses are demanding, our careers often insecure, and we have issues with various people in our lives. We may even have health challenges or have parents or friends who do. It is easy to become overwhelmed by these facts and lose sight of the balance we need for optimum wholeness.

Whatever it is that you find funny or genuinely amusing, make sure to seek it out and indulge in it on a regular basis. With all the heavy, intense and bad news, whether in “the world” or our own lives, humor is not optional. It is essential.

So what makes you laugh? I encourage you to make a quick note right now on your calendar, daily planner or PDA of one of the things you find the funniest and most uplifting. Make it a recurring appointment: call that hilarious friend, watch that movie that puts you in stitches, read a funny book, sign up for clown classes, visit that website or blog that always makes you laugh out loud. Or hang out with small children – they laugh a lot and it’s contagious!

And don’t forget to check out the Couchmobile. Hmmmm….maybe I should make a COACHmobile? I could cruise down the street in my motorized office chair, wearing my wireless headset, holding a clipboard on my lap and coaching my clients. Now that sounds like fun!

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He wrote about the importance of buying advice – GOOD advice!
See what he said here.

It’s funny, because advice giving is big business, and yet, many folks take the advice, as Seth points out, of celebrities and others who don’t necessarily know jack about what you need advice on.

A lot of coach training “advises” heavily against giving advice. Coaches are “supposed to” draw out the client’s own wisdom, because people are the best expert on ourselves. Fortunately, many (most) coaches also do give advice, because most of them have a lot of professional and life experience that is extremely valuable.

So don’t hesitate to ask your coach – or me here – for good advice!

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Check out this interactive telephone seminar:

The Four Keys to Becoming a Time Architectâ„¢: An Introduction to a Revolutionary New Way to Take Back Your Time

If you’re like most professionals, managers, and business owners, you work more hours than you prefer and you may feel like you’re still not getting enough done. You’ve virtually given up on many of the other interests and passions in your life.

In this interactive telephone seminar you’ll be introduced to a new approach to “time management” that gets to the core of how to create sustainable
peak performance for today’s professionals and business owners.

A Time Architectâ„¢ is someone who has a great control over their time and their life, and creates time for the high value activities and relationships that are important to them.

This class is for you if:

* You feel burnt out or like you might be headed in that direction.

* You don’t seem to ever have time for non-work passions and interests.

* Willpower never seems to work for you.

* You feel like you’re “on” all the time.

* You want more than a “quick fix” that won’t last.

More info here.

You’ll learn:

* how “solidifying your structure” has everything
to do with getting control of your time

* to understand the critical see-saw principle and put
into immediate use

* how simplification and stormproofing play key roles
in becoming a master Time Architectâ„¢.

And you’ll leave the call with at least three achievable action steps, customized to you, which you can start implementing immediately in your
life.

Your only investment is $9.95 for the class, plus the cost of the long-distance call to the conference line. If you don’t get way more than $9.95 worth of actionable material, I’ll happily refund your investment.

You have two choices for this clss (one daytime, one evening)

Thursday, August 4th at 8:00 pm Eastern/5 pm Pacific

Wednesday, August 10 at 3:00 pm Eastern/12:00 pm/Pacific

To register, go here now.

Maximum of 20 people per call, so register now. I promise to make it worth your valuable time!

Best regards,
Anne

The post Become a Time Architectâ„¢ appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

Great story! I couldn’t agree with you more. It’s sad that some individuals don’t get to know people who they assume are too ordinary….Some of the most important role models I’ve had in life do not have buildings named after them or have millions in the bank but in some beautiful way their ordinary lives have been extraordinary.

Thanks for sharing that story,
Debi

Hi Anne —
What a beautiful message! Thank you!
And I love your tag line.
Take good care,
Priscilla

I think this was exactly what I needed to read today to remind me of what’s important.
Thank you.
Donna

Anne,
A great story of courage and determination. Live one day at a time with a loving heart for all that we do. Life is precious and so is each one of us who live and breathe one moment at a time.

Gratefully,

Darleen

Dear Anne,

Thank you so much for a great, worth sharing article about ” how to be the hero of your own life”. I just don’t know how to describe how inspiring the article is.

Cheers,

Caleb

Hi Anne,

Thank you so much for this e-mail. It was absolutely wonderful to receive it.

It is my daughter’s 27th birthday today, a day of Celebration of her life. Unfortunately for 12 years now she has had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, so that beautiful girl has been unable to go to college, etc. as it is too taxing on her.

I listened to your article and started crying. It really got to me. Jessica was a wonderful girl and will be in our hearts for ever. She is and will be special to all of us forever.

I passed the e-mail onto my daughter, so that she can listen to it. It will make her feel extra special today, as she totally deserves to be. Thanks for that.

Have a truly memorable day…

Nina

Very lovely and inspiring story.
Thanks, Anne.

Don

Dear Anne,

I am greatly inspired with the mail you sent to me on
Jessicca Berry. I really appreciate it. I pray we all achieve our
dreams though the roads might be rough but with perseverance and
determination we shall get there.

Dapo

The post Hero feedback appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

We lose touch with what’s most important to us and start down that slippery slope where life feels like a numbing treadmill and our passion and caring begin to disappear.

Fewer choices = greater freedom. A paradox, isn’t it? I’m frequently reminding clients that the practice of sequencing is so crucial. Sequencing is doing things in sequence rather than all at once. So you may sequence some big life projects, and focus on one this year, or even for the next few years.

If we do one thing well, we will be much further ahead than doing multiple things half-baked.

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A fellow who has struggled for over 20 years with his professional golf career won the men’s US Open last Sunday. How did New Zealander Michael Campbell do it? In an interview, he said that, as he played the last 9 holes, he said to himself 20 times each hole “Keep your focus, keep your focus, keep your focus.”

This simple statement contains such power and is such a key to our success. I don’t have A.D.D., but sometimes I wonder, the way I can jump around from project to project. When I KEEP MY FOCUS it truly is amazing what I accomplish. It feels great!

Ask yourself, what is the top activity you need to focus on right now?

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Yes, I agree with you about action. I also have a lot to do in the patience division. But, as you found out, action and patience really go together. If you had not gone to the Builders store, you probably would never have seen the glass block. The glass block came into your vision because of something you saw at the Builders store. Whether you saw it or now, you mind saw it, and then put you and the block together.

When I rush to action, many times it takes more time to redo the action, than if I wait for the perfect solution… that is always there!

Thanks for your notes…

Lawrence

Patience is a virtue I have been blessed with but, I do sometimes find myself in a hurry to get something done. This story reinforces that waiting is almost always a good thing to do. By waiting just a couple of seconds we can respond to something instead of reacting to it.

Thanks for the reminder,
Paul

Great lesson. I probably have more than my fair share of patience. I have cultivated it the last few years. I think your lesson has great beauty in the waiting. Not something we no how to do very well in the culture.

Thanks for sharing,

Have a great day ~ Debbie

What a great example of how patience pays off and the innovative solutions we can come up with when faced with a problem to solve.
Thanks,
Connie

The post Some Feedback on Glass Block Story appeared first on Authentic Alternatives.

The beautiful wood lot next door to our house was recently cleared to put up two more homes. We knew it was going to happen sooner or later. On the window that faces the lot, we had a beautiful stained glass piece, however, the window showed through about 8” on either side.

Now, with the lot cleared, every time I went by the window, instead of beautiful greenery, I noticed raw earth, scraped by the bulldozer. It made me cringe every time. I am a big believer in the tremendous benefit of setting up our environment to support us. This includes all kinds of environments, like clients, friends, beliefs, food, etc. But in this case it was my physical/social environment.

We had to do something to change that view out the window. I came up with the idea of a lightweight translucent plastic roller shade that would go behind the stained glass. Definitely tacky, but I was adamant I did not want to see construction for the next six months or look into someone else’s window for years after that.

Although this idea wasn’t the greatest, I didn’t see any other option and my perspective, as an impatient, action-oriented person was “Let’s just put up the shade.”

Fellow “action” friends take note: sometimes action can be premature.

So what happened? We started tossing ideas around – an attractive Japanese paper shade of some kind, plastic film you stick on windows in bathrooms for privacy that still lets light through, even spray-on coatings.

Yet, we agreed, none were very aesthetically pleasing in our desire to create an uplifting, beautiful environment that would positively affect our daily performance and happiness.

To stimulate our idea process, we went to the local home improvement monster box store and cruised the aisles, trying to come up with a good solution. No luck.

Finally, frustrated and back home again, I noticed the glass block I had in my office. It simply sat on my window sill since I had nowhere to install it, but I had loved it for years. Was there some way to use the block?

We quickly discovered that the spacing was almost perfect – one column of glass block on either side would fill the gaps perfectly. The wave pattern made it so, while light came through, we didn’t really see what was outside, just some color.

Now we wondered how we would stack a column of blocks, without mortar. It turns out they make a plastic insert for just that purpose – dry-stacking glass blocks.

We bought some blocks and inserts and you would think that the window had been specifically planned for this purpose. I was amazed! The solution was perfect. Yet, in my initial rush to solve the problem, I would never have come up with this.

It was a wonderful lesson to me to:
1) take enough time to come up with the best solution, and
2) put your head together with one or more others to guarantee better solutions.

In this action-oriented culture, there isn’t much value placed on patience. Let us be wise and not make that mistake.

© 2018 Anne Alexander. All rights reserved.

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Here’s one idea from the book. When approaching a particular business or professional problem, take the approach of acknowledging that you don’t know how it’s going to turn out. “Instead of worrying over the many possibilities in any situation, just let go. You really surrender when you drop attachment to a particular outcome…One student said: ‘My approach has always been to hammer away at a problem until I find a solution, or failing that, I usually give up. This brute-force approach does produce results but at a cost of great stress and unhappiness… With surrendering I felt much more at peace with myself, and I actually attacked the problems with greater confidence.’ ”

What problem can you surrender today? Success may be the result.

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