In our prior post we talked about the importance of intelligent self-interest or selfishness, results, ownership, discipline, people, persistence, focused and ideas.
Today we are going to talk about action.
What does success mean to you?
I do probably 100 talked a year on business mastery and success. In almost every talk I ask this question. “What does success mean to you?” If there are 100 people in the room I get 95 different answers.
The answers included:
“Being Happy.”
“Making more money.”
“More Family time.”
“More Freedom.”
The list goes on.
How can the word “success” have so many different meaning?
As you probably gathered by now, if you can’t define something you cannot achieve it. I will ask the audience “what does being happy mean?”, “what does making more money mean?”, “what does freedom mean?” If you can’t define it you cannot achieve it.
I finally realized people confused the outcomes of success with being successful.
Let me say that again. I finally realized people confuse the outcomes of success with being successful.
Let me explain.
If you have the Oxford Dictionary of Word History, take a minute look up the work success. When the word was introduced in the English language, it simply met to achieve. There was no moral judgment. If I stole something, I was as successful as someone who built a house.
I then looked up the word achieve. The dictionary gave the definition as “taking action.”
I finally realized that success simply means to take action. The outcomes of being successful are
“Being Happy.”
“Making more money.”
“More Family time.”
“More Freedom.”
Etc.
If success means to take action, what action do you need to take to achieve your intelligent self-interest?
In the last nine emails I laid out the nine behaviors successful people implement. Let me review them here:
Intelligent Self-interest (selfishness)
Taking Ownership
Measure Everything – Results
Understanding People
Being Persistence
Staying Focus
Creating habits - Discipline
Creating Ideas
Taking action
If you do not understand how to implement these behaviors call me. I do this for a living. I can help. I want you to succeed (take action toward your intelligent self interest).
If you chose not to call me, please send me an email to let me know how you are doing implementing these behaviors.
If you do not or cannot work with me create your own advisory board. Remember, the Advisory Board is composed of other likeminded people who are dedicated to providing intelligent and objective feedback, practical suggestions, usable advice and best practices to help YOU get results.
Take action now!
Contact me at directly at ron@akris.net or by phone at (330) 990-0788 if you would like to learn more.
In our prior posts we talked about the importance of intelligent self-interest or selfishness, measuring results, taking ownership, developing discipline, understand people, being persistence and staying focused.
Today we are going to talk about ideas.
Once we decide on our intelligent self-interest we can run into one of two problems: too many ideas or not enough ideas.
How do we solve this dilemma?
Let me tell you specifically what I do that has transformed my life and my business.
This board is composed of other likeminded people who are dedicated to providing intelligent and objective feedback, practical suggestions, usable advice and best practices to help me get results.
It does three things for me:
1. Keeps me focused on my intelligent self-interest
2. Provides concrete ideas to take me deeper into achieving my goals.
3. Acts as a sounding board to help me eliminate the ideas that seemed good at the time but have no real value.
Is it easy putting your dreams and goals out for others to see? No, it is not.
Is it important? You better believe it?
Many times we do not achieve our goals because we do not know how; especially in this day and age where it is impossible to keep up with the pace of change.
If you don’t share your intelligent self-interest, how will you find someone to help you? If you don’t share your intelligent self-interest, then you have not taken ownership. If you don’t share your intelligent self-interest, how can you create an advisory board of likeminded people to help you?
I know what you are thinking. I do not need an advisory board, I can do it myself. Good luck! Every major company has a board. They call theirs a Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is tasked with holding the senior management team accountable to achieving the plan. They help clear out obstacles. They help with objective feedback, practical advice, and best practices.
If they use the concept, doesn’t make sense for you to do the same thing?
You do not have to go it alone. You don’t want to go it alone. Find a board of trusted advisors and hold each other responsible to help each other achieve the intelligent self-interest that is so important to you.
Take action now!
In the next post we will discuss action in more detail. I will let you in on a secret. The real definition of success is action. Learn more in the next email.
You may also contact me directly at ron@akris.net or by phone at (330) 990-0788 if you would like to learn more. When you call, please ask about his 100% money back guarantee and mention this email. Thank you for your time and here’s to your business success!
To your success,
Ron Finklestein
Check out my marketing book www.49marketingsecrets.com and see what others have done to grow their business.
In our prior posts we talked about the importance of intelligent self-interest or selfishness, measuring results, taking ownership, creating discipline, understanding how to treat people others the way they want to be treated and persistence.
Today we are going to talk about focus.
Focus is only two questions.
These questions take you back to your intelligent self-interest (selfishness.)
These questions reinforce the ownership aspect of your decision.
These questions keep you looking at the effectiveness of your actions – the results.
These two questions are:
Is what I am going taking me closer to my intelligent self-interest (selfishness)?
If not. Why am I doing it?
There is no room to hide here boys and girls. You either are or you are not.
To paraphrase Yoda in Star Wars: There is no trying; only doing.
Are you staying focusing on what is important to you?
If not, why? Did you set your intelligent self-interest too high? Because we are consistently learning, did you intelligent self-interest change? That’s ok if it did. Learn from it and fail forward.
Remember in our last email we discussed failing forward. It took me several tries to get clear on what my intelligent self-interest was all about. It may be the same with you.
Did you get distracted? Did you lose sight of your grand plan? Are you getting push back from those close to you? Are you strong enough to maintain your course and not let others derail you?
Remember persistence. If you are losing interest, you have not yet found your true intelligent self-interest.
Stay true (focused) to your intelligent self-interest.
In the next post we will discuss ideas. This is a big problem for most people. The problem is not lack of ideas, it is too many ideas.
You may also contact me directly at ron@akris.net or by phone at (330) 990-0788 if you would like to learn more. When you call, please ask about his 100% money back guarantee and mention this email. Thank you for your time and here’s to your business success!
To your success,
Ron Finklestein
Check out my marketing book www.49marketingsecrets.com and see what others have done to grow their business.
In our prior post we talked about the importance of intelligent self-interest or selfishness, measuring results, taking ownership, implementing discipline and treating people the why they want to be treated.
Today we are going to talk about persistence.
It is hard to be persistence if you do not have any idea as to why you need to be persistence and motivated to take action. Intelligent self-interest is key to persistence.
In a prior email we discussed intelligent self-interest. It is an understanding what we need to accomplish, taking ownership for our situation and taking action to get the desire results.
When we take action, many time we fail and give up. Usually it is because we are learning something new and we want results now. Persistence, by its definition implies failure. I need to keep trying something until I get the results I want. I call that failing forward.
Because we fail more than we succeed we need to reframe failure into something positive. Just like a rocket is always adjusting to ensure it is on target, we need to do the same thing.
Most people think a rocket goes from point A to point B without any adjustments. That is not true. A rocket makes thousands of calculations (adjustments) per seconds. The process goes something like this: the rocket is fired, it goes through its calculations to find it is off course by three degrees, it corrects and finds that it over corrected, it is now off two degrees in the other direction. It makes another adjustment. This process goes on until the rocket reaches its goal. The rocket continues to fail forward – toward the end results, the goal, its intelligent self-interest (the destination).
Let me bring this closer to home. Thomas Edison was once asked how it felt to fail so many times. Edison told the reporter that he never failed. He told the reporter that if he tried something 10,000 times and it did not work, he did not fail. He simply learned 10,000 ways it did not work.
You need to think like Edison. Do not fail. Just understand that if you try something and you do not get the desired results, learn from your results and try something else; fail forward. Reframe the failure experience into something positive and try again. After all, if your intelligent self-interest is powerful enough, you will be inspired to fail forward.
I am of the sincere belief that people fail not because they lack skills. I think they fail because they are not inspired. Because they are not inspired, when they face a difficult situation, instead of failing forward they give up. They either did not develop their intelligent self-interest or they lost sight of it.
Find you dream, your intelligent self-interest and be like Thomas Edison and reframe every negative experience into something positive and stay focused on your intelligent self-interest. Don’t let others steal your dream.
In the next post we will discuss focus. Focus is composed of two very powerful questions.
You may also contact me directly at ron@akris.net or by phone at (330) 990-0788 if you would like to learn more. When you call, please ask about his 100% money back guarantee and mention this email. Thank you for your time and here’s to your business success!
To your success,
Ron Finklestein
Check out my marketing book www.49marketingsecrets.com and see what others have done to grow their business.
We all know people are different. Yet many of us have never been taught how to build effective relationships. Since we are all members of the human race it is expected that we would develop those skills from our teachers, parents and role models.
That’s fine if your role model was an expert in identifying and creating these relationships. Most of us never had those kind of coaches, mentors or teachers.
Because we did not have experts teach us we need to take ownership for learning this skill. That is where The Platinum Rule comes into play.
If you agree with this statement: Our success is totally dependent on our ability to communicate, lead, sell, coach, mentor, influence, and motivate others, you must learn The Platinum Rule.
The Platinum Rule with teach you:
1. Learn the strengths of your natural behavioral style and how to leverage them.
2. Discover common traits shared by effective leaders who have mastered behavioral adaptability.
3. How your behavioral style can be leveraged to create an effective culture that permeates every facet of your business.
4. Learn how to create discipline within your organization that guarantees predictable results. 5. Develop a winning attitude that improves every facet of your business.
6. Why your natural behavioral style may be impeding your ability to take calculated risks that are necessary to build a winning business.
7. You will learn how to leverage your natural behavioral style within your particular selling environment.
8. We will teach you how to use psychographics in customizing your marketing messages.
My intent is not to teach you The Platinum Rule in this email. That is not possible. Though The Platinum Rule is easy to learn, it requires practice to become proficient, like any new skill. That is why persistence is so important.
In the next post we will discuss persistence. Anytime you learn something new your effectiveness will suffer. Persistence is essential to success. Find out why in the next email.
To learn more about The Platinum Rule for Small Business Mastery and the people side click here.
You may also contact me directly at ron@akris.net or by phone at (330) 990-0788 if you would like to learn more. When you call, please ask about his 100% money back guarantee and mention this email. Thank you for your time and here’s to your business success!
To your success,
Ron Finklestein
Check out my marketing book www.49marketingsecrets.com and see what others have done to grow their business.
Discipline is Creating Measurable, Repeatable, and Predictable Habits.
In our prior posts we talked about the importance of intelligent self-interest or selfishness, measuring results and taking ownership.
Today we are going to talk about discipline. Not that kind of discipline. No one likes to be forced to do things they don’t like.
I am talking about a different kind of discipline: the creation of measurable, repeatable, and predictable action that create habits.
My of us suffer because we have bad habits that we created (remember ownership). Those habits worked for us at the time. When we realized they worked, we used them over and over again. We created a habit. That is all a habit is (measurable, repeatable, predictable) process or action.
If I am in sales and I know that to close one sale I need to make 50 calls. When I make my fifty calls I get ten appointments. From ten appointments I make one sale. What I just described is measurable, repeatable and predictable process. I also know that if I make fifty calls and don’t get ten appointments then I need to change my approach to getting appointments. If I am getting my ten appointments but not making my one sale I know I need to change how I close.
Once I figure out how to make my fifty calls, get my ten appointments and make one sale, I just created a habit: measure, repeatable and predictable. As a business owner you can now train all new sales representatives on this process. The new sales representative can now achieve the same results.
How would this work in a personal relationship? If I am in a relationship with someone and we are always fighting (fighting is my results,) I can define the outcome I want (intelligent self-interest.) I can measure the change in the relationship by the reduction in the number of fights. Since I am taking ownership for the situation, I am empowered to change how I respond to the individual. Since I chose to respond differently I can expect different results.
When I get the results I want I can choose to implement those behaviors regularly.
Didn’t I just create a measurable, repeatable and predictable process?
In the next post we will discuss people. Your success and my success is 100% dependent on our ability to communicate, inspire, lead, motivate, coach, influence and sell ourselves and our ideas to others. To learn more about the people side click here.
You may also contact me directly at ron@akris.net or by phone at (330) 990-0788 if you would like to learn more. When you call, please ask about his 100% money back guarantee and mention this email. Thank you for your time and here’s to your business success!
To your success,
Ron Finklestein
Check out my marketing book www.49marketingsecrets.com and see what others have done to grow their business.
It Is Not About Accomplishments – It is About Results.
In our prior posts we talked about the importance of intelligent self-interest or selfishness and taking ownership.
Today we are going to talk about results, or more correctly, measuring everything.
Busyness does not count. Efficiency does not count. Only effectiveness counts.
You are probably asking yourself “what is the difference between efficiency and effectiveness?”
Since you asked, let me explain.
Efficiency is doing thing right.
Effective is doing the right things.
If you do not measure everything how do you know you are being effective.
I had a client whose company was very efficient, at all the wrong things. The things they needed to be effective at were not being measured or addressed at all. This is the direct result of market changes. As a result, over time, he had to sell his company.
When you perform your daily activities and you are not clear on what you want to accomplish (your intelligent self-interest), how do you know you are doing the right things; being effective?
I have a client who is great at networking. She did not get any business but she met with everyone. When I asked her why she was meeting with a specific person she answered “isn’t that what networking is all about?”
I then asked her what outcome she wanted?
“I don’t know.”
Let me ask you again: “Why are you meeting with him?”
“I don’t know.”
If you are meeting people (networking) with a clear objective of what you want from each meeting, how effective can you be?
If you are meeting 20 people a week, you are certainly efficient are creating networking opportunity, but how effective are you in moving towards your goal?
Since we talked about ownership, you are now empowered, to create an effective networking strategy.
I asked her the following questions.
“What do you want to accomplish from each meeting?”
“Who is the best person for you to meet with?”
“Is a next step always defined? If so is it followed up on?”
“What is the cost in terms of time, energy and money?”
“Is the return on investment clearly measured for time, energy and money?”
When she started getting clear on what she wanted from her networking, her business grew 40% in less than a year.
Another client figured out that for each networking event he missed is cost him $88. He knew where his business came from and it came from networking. So he scheduled his time most effectively by attending more networking events.
Let’s define results.
A result is defined as a consequence of a specific action. Since you are taking ownership for your life, your intelligent self-interest, start measuring everything. Find out what works. Measuring results allows you to spend you time effectively on achieving your selfish, your intelligent self-interest.
In the next post we will discuss discipline. Discipline allows you to take what works and make it a measurable, repeatable, and predictable personal and corporate habit.
You may also contact me directly at ron@akris.net or by phone at (330) 990-0788 if you would like to learn more. When you call, please ask about his 100% money back guarantee and mention this email. Thank you for your time and here’s to your business success!
To your success,
Ron Finklestein
Check out my marketing book www.49marketingsecrets.com and see what others have done to grow their business.
In our prior emails we talked about the importance of intelligent self-interest or selfishness.
Today we are going to talk about ownership.
Ownership is critical to success because it is so empowering.
Let’s define ownership.
Ownership is the legal right of possession.
In the simplest terms it simply empowers you to embrace your intelligent self-interest.
Ownership says I am allowed to pursue my dreams, my goals, and my highest ideals; my intelligent self-interest (selfishness).
When you take ownership for your situation, it allows you to make change and do things differently. Ownership empowers you to act.
Ownership is different from responsibility. I like to think of it as more powerful than taking responsibility. Responsibility is defined as “on one's own initiative or authority.” Ownership is a “legal right of possession.” I don’t know about you but I want the legal right to my intelligent self-interest. I then can take initiative (responsibility) to make things happen.
What are the Outcomes of Ownership: If you don’t own it you can’t change it. If you don’t own it you can’t achieve it.
Tell yourself right now that you own your current situation. You may not know why you are in this situation, but once you take ownership for where you are, you are now empowered to change it.
It is learning to think differently. Own your thinking process, own your results, own your life and know you can change the outcome from here forward because you are empowered to take inspired action to achieve your desired results, your intelligent self-interest, your selfishness.
In the next post we will discuss results. Results are the strong outcome of ownership.
You may also contact me directly at ron@akris.net or by phone at (330) 990-0788 if you would like to learn more. When you call, please ask about his 100% money back guarantee and mention this email. Thank you for your time and here’s to your business success!
To your success,
Ron Finklestein
Check out my marketing book www.49marketingsecrets.com and see what others have done to grow their business.
In our last blog post I mentioned I would share the nine behaviors successful people implement daily. Here is the first one: Intelligent Self-Interest (selfishness).
When we look at the meaning of the word “intelligent” when it was introduced into the English language, it simply meant “to understand.”
When we talk about being selfish, and I define selfishness as intelligent self-interest, we are simply asking you to get clear on what is in your best interest. Stated another way, what is most important to you?
Why is getting clear so important? We have limited time, money, and resources and it is impossible to utilize these gifts wisely unless we know what we want to achieve; that is we are selfish in our use of these gifts. We have so many people asking us to spend our hard earned money, limited time and precious resources that it is impossible to know where to spend this time, money resources unless we understand what is in our best interest, our intelligent self-interest.
Stated differently, I am asking you to be selfish about your time, money and resources so you can spend it moving forward on your intelligent self-interest.
Focus your time, energy and money on what you want to achieve and not on what some slick marketing message says is important. Then, when you get clear on your selfishness (intelligent self-interest), I want you to take inspired action toward your selfishness.
Henry Ford said it best: “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.”
Stay focused on your goals, your intelligent self-interest, your selfishness.
Take inspired action to move forward one step at a time, never losing sight of your intelligent self-interest.
In the next post we will discuss ownership of your situation.
You may also contact me directly at ron@akris.net or by phone at (330) 990-0788 if you would like to learn more. When you call, please ask about his 100% money back guarantee and mention this email. Thank you for your time and here’s to your business success!
To your success,
Ron Finklestein
Check out my marketing book www.49marketingsecrets.com and see what others have done to grow their business.
In the next nine blog posts I will share with you the behaviors that successful people implement daily.
I asked my clients why they work with me. Here are three things they told me:
I learn to think differently!
Personal/Professional Growth!
I found out I am not alone. Others are dealing with the same problems!
I tell you this because I want to help you be more successful by sharing the same concepts I teach them.
I have found that our belief system is the biggest obstacle holding us back. Our beliefs are our evaluation of something. Frequently when we re-evaluate a situation our belief about that situation will change.
As Einstein said "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
That is why I created a program designed to help you think differently by driving the nine behaviors all successful people implement. These nine behaviors were distilled from talking with, interviewing and reading about hundreds successful business people. In the next nine posts I will be discussing each of the behaviors.
You may also contact me directly at ron@akris.net or by phone at (330) 990-0788 if you would like to learn more. When you call, please ask about his 100% money back guarantee and mention this email. Thank you for your time and here’s to your business success!
To your success,
Ron Finklestein
Check out my marketing book www.49marketingsecrets.com and see what others have done to grow their business.
Recently, I asked a number of clients what they have experienced as a results of working with me. I do this kind of research regularly to ensure I am meeting my clients’ expectations.
The first reason for this post is to share some of the comment I received. They were not what I would have said if someone asked my why they work with me.
What they told me was this:
Personal Growth
Knowing that I am not alone and other share the same problems
The ability to help others
Great place to do market research to reduce the risk
Being around other successful people
Learn new skills
Gain Confidence
What I expected to hear was – Grow revenues.
Wow was I off base. As a result of personal growth, helping others, etc. they did grow revenues but they had to implement new behaviors to create new revenue streams.
It just goes to show we often do not know why people buy from us. That is why this kind of on-going research is so important.
The second reason I mention this is because, the very next day, I received a two page thank you letter (this person was not part of this research) and I wanted to share some section of this letter with you.
“First let me thank you for the Business Mastery Advisory Board and the personal impact this has had on my life…. for the first time in a long time, I am finding the energy and desire to make significant changes in my business and my life.”
This person goes on to say “facing myself with honesty and a willingness to address my own behaviors and thoughts has been frightening. Receiving well meaning feedback, honest view points, and encouragement for yourself and other members of the Business Mastery Advisory Board is hard but it has been absolutely critical to changing my business and myself. I am proud to be with a great group of people.”
I love what I do but when I received this letter I feel an incredibility sense of responsibility about the impact I am having. I came to realize this responsibility not just through the Business Mastery Advisory Board meeting but by the simple action I try to take daily to model the behavior I teach.
No action goes unseen. No word goes unheard. This is true in all aspects of business: with employees, family, friends, prospects, clients, customers and everyone we meet. I became profoundly aware of the impact my words, actions, and behaviors have on others. I am both thankful and grateful people would share with me like this but I am almost intimated by the sense of responsibility I have when I work with others.
Whether you realize it or not your word and actions are powerful in their effect on others. Ask yourself the next time you are about to say something: “what message am I sending? Do I want to send this message?”
The article I posted is called Using Time as a Sign of Caring. It is actually an article from Dr. Tony Alessandra. Dr. Alessandra is one of the coauthors on my book called The Platinum Rule for Small Business Mastery. The book is available on Amazon.com if you are interested. The book discussed how to treat others how they want to be treated and how this concept applies in 12 areas of business (sales, marketing, strategy, IT, customer services, etc.) Here is the Amazon link to learn more: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1600370330?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwakrisnet-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1600370330
CNN posted an article about a woman who recently died (age 108) and hows he used the blog to tell stoies about her life. I wanted to share this with you because of her attitude. She was so positive. I love articles about people who are positive and that is why I wanted to share this one. Enjoy this short articles.
For the last several years, I have created and run Business Mastery Advisory Boards (www.rpfgroupinc.com) for companies from start up to less than $10M in revenues. I have companies with more than $10M in revenues but they are different breed of people.
Over the years, I interviewed people who participate in this advisory board and ask them what they get out of it. I looked for both a hard dollar and soft dollar return on investment. I let them determine what this return looked like. One comment I heard repeatedly was that “I am learning to think differently.” When people follow the process, without exception, they receive 100% return on their money. I was asked why I did not offer a money back guarantee on this service since the results are there.
For over six months I struggled with my belief systems and what this guarantee would means to my business and the Business Mastery Advisory Board participants. I struggled with putting myself and my process on the line and what would happen if it failed. Would people take advantage of this opportunity to get free consulting? Would they claim they did not get the results and demand their money back? Would they follow the process? How would I implement such a bold statement and not sound pompous?
What I realized was all the questions were just excuses (excuses I needed to manage) that were holding me back. My biggest concern was fear. Would people take advantage of me? I started asking myself who (in the Business Mastery Advisory Board) was successful and why were they successful?
I came up with an interesting answer.
I realized the people who were successful did not accept excuses and the money back guarantee simply help them decide to move forward. They took ownership for where they were in their business and they were willing to take action. I realized I needed to implement the same behaviors. The Advisory Board works when you follow the process.
One gentleman I spoke to told me I could systematize anything. I took that as a challenge and realized that I could create a win/win process. When I started seeing the feasibility of this I knew it could work. But first I needed to face my fears. I test marketed this to several people and had a discussion with them. I got their feedback and I realized all I needed to do was create an accountability process for both parties. I needed to know they were doing what we discussed and they needed to know I was doing the same thing.
It took awhile, even after I created the accountability process, to get comfortable with what I was doing. Finally I realized I needed to do this because I knew my belief systems were holding me back. I have a policy: If I am afraid of doing something, I need to do it. When I faced my fears, I realized there is nothing to be afraid of. I have a powerful marketing differentiator. To my knowledge, I am the only business coach offering this kind of guarantee. I am implementing in my home town of Northeast Ohio and depending on results, I will roll it out to a broader audience.
Contact: Ron Finklestein Phone: 330-990-0788 Email: info@yourbusinesscoach.net Fax: 330-865-6922 Web Site: www.akris.net
AKRIS INC Purchases Popular Business Networking Franchise For Stark and Summit Counties
Northeast Ohio B2B referral organization expands reach to generate lucrative sales leads for members in Summit and Stark Counties
Akron, Ohio, June 23, 2008 - - AKRIS, INC., The Business Success Experts in Akron, Ohio announced today its intention to expand its organization by acquiring a BtoB Connect franchises for Stark and Summit Counties.
Announcing details of the new franchise, Ron Finklestein, Founder and President of AKRIS INC., said, “I have acquired significant new business by being a part of the BtoB Connect group in Akron. When the opportunity came up to acquire this territory, I jumped at the chance to grow my business using this exciting model.”
Jim Hornyak, Co-Founder and Vice President of BtoB Connect said, “The exploding demand for the services of a B2B group vs. B2C group is what inspired us to create BtoB Connect, and has now prompted us to introduce BtoB Connect as a franchise nationwide. We are excited to have Ron Finklestein as our second franchise owner.”
Laura Leggett, Co-Founder and President, notes that, “Ron Finklestein has been involved with BtoB Connect since the prototype days in 2003, which makes him uniquely qualified to show other B2B professionals how to grow their businesses through personal referrals. We could not be happier that Ron is our second franchise owner.”
Finklestein plans to use this opportunity to grow his Business Mastery Advisory Board (www.businessmasterynow.com) and he is quick to point out that a BtoB Connect franchise is truly unique because ownership doesn’t require abandoning his other business or career interests. The power of this franchise is that it can feed a continuous stream of qualified business referrals to AKRIS INC. and other BtoB Connect member, making it a key component of our business development activities.”
To learn more about how you can learn more and benefit from this powerful concept (with no monetary investment required) please attended a 90-minute overview, July 18, 2008 at 11:30AM – 1PM, at 3700 Embassy Parkway, Montrose, as Ron, Jim and Laura roll out this opportunity to interested individuals. There is no charge for this event but registration is required. To register for this event: http://www.yourbusinesscoach.net/calendar.html
About BtoB Connect:
BtoB Connect is a business-to-business networking group with the mission to dramatically condense the sales cycle and eliminate the high cost of cold-market business development by providing high quality personal referrals to business owners and sales professionals calling exclusively on other companies. BtoB Connect is specifically designed to generate highly qualified business referrals for business people.
About AKRIS INC:
AKRIS INC (www.yourbusinesscoach.net) is a business coaching and consulting firm that inspires, educates, and motivates business people to action that leads to successful results.
The High Cost of the Law of Unintended Consequences
For four years I did a conference where I invited business owners to tell us what they right in their business. We picked the top 12 stories and these successful business owners were given an opportunity to tell their story to up to 300 conference attendees.
While promoting the last conference, I sent faxed invitations to business owners who I thought would enjoy the positive press and would be interested in promoting their company to 300 people.
Several asked that I remove them from the list and I did so.
Four of them engaged a lawyer and filed a law suit.
Apparently there is a law that says you cannot fax someone unless you have written permission. This puzzled me especially since the names and fax numbers came from a public list I acquired from Reference USA.
The law states you cannot sell a product or service via fax without written permission (there is more but that is the highlight).
Since the fax I sent invited the business owner to a networking event where we could talk with them about their story and the role the conference would play in helping them grow their business, we were not in violation of the law.
The Cleveland based lawyer filed the lawsuit for a Cleveland based heating and air conditioning company. Apparently this lawyer only files lawsuits when people receive an unwanted fax. As I talked with people about this law suit I Learned I am not the only one he has extorted money from. His reputation is less than stellar.
I am sure this lawsuit was not the intent of the fax law and our law makers really should fix this law to prevent this abuse.
According to my lawyer, the lawsuit is “legalized extortion” but her suggested it is best to settle the suit because of the cost of going to court and the difficulty in counter-suing.
It cost a lot of money and time to run this conference to promote good news in NEO. It cost a lot of money in legal fees to settle this law suit.
It is hard to plead “not guilty” when I clearly broke the law – even though I did not know the law existed. Sometimes we try to do something positive and it backfires. The backfire is what I call the law of unintended consequences.
There are two lessons to be learned: 1. Continue trying to do good but have a good lawyer. If you need a good lawyer let me know, I have more experience than I care to admit and I would be willing to share the names of the people who helped me. Asking a question to your lawyer before is always easier that dealing with a suite after the fact. 2. It doesn’t say much about our business owners if they cannot pick up the phone and ask to be taken of the list. To file a stupid and frivolous lawsuit to raise money is the ultimate in stupidity. The business owners who filed suit should be taken to the woodshed. It took a while to get my PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) back but I did. The essence of the second lesson is to trust your lawyer and stop worrying. Worrying does not good. All the sleep I lost did not change the outcome of the suit.
I will not reveal this company in this post and I suspect he has more problems that receiving a fax he does not want. He apparently has little disregard for his business or his business reputation to get involved in this nonsense. The other four who had their name on this lawsuit did not do their business a favor.
I was bummed for a while about this law suit. I am over it now but I am saddened that our business community has to waste time, energy and money over something this stupid. If you read this and you were one of the business people who filed this suit, know that I feel really sorry for you. You must be in a lot of pain (personal & business) or you are just a nasty person. To get involved in this law suit and associate with this lawyer who specializes in extortion makes me sad that you live in NEO. NEO deserves better that what you have to offer – as a person and a business.
I was working with a member of my Business Mastery Advisory Board on some issues about her business and inconsistent attendance at her board meetings.
As we talked it became apparent to both of us that we did not know what success met to this individual.
Her conscious mind wanted more money. She associated having more money as a way of having to work less so she could spend more time with her daughter.
Her subconscious mind was telling her that the more you work the less time you will have to spend with your daughter.
So she would work really hard and build a book of business then drop out of sight for a while wonder how she got so busy. What we came to understand was that she had a hard time delegating because of some situations that occurred in her past so she felt she had to do everything herself.
As a result of this discussion we did two things that got her focused and clear. The first was to create a delegation process so she felt comfortable. Many people confuse delegation with abdication. Delegation is knowing the who, what, where, when, and why of the delegation process so there is no confusion. Abdication is delegation without follow through.
The second thing we did is help her prioritize what she needed to work on and what could be delegated. Two months after this discussion we talked and her stress level has dropped, her work load has dropped but she has more business.
The big benefit to her in being involved in the Business Mastery Advisory Board is that she had someone to hold her accountable. Through this accountability process she has made major changes in her life and business.
Having traveled to 15 different cities in about 20 days over the last month I had a great opportunity to see how other cities are dealing with the economic issues that are in the news.
I was surprised to find that other cities were doing much better than Cleveland and NEO.
In Glen Falls, NY, I taught a class on how to deal with difficult people based on the books The Platinum Rule for Small Business Mastery (www.amazon.com).
It was a small class (20 people) as classes go and that is what made it interesting.
One kitchen design company sent three people because business was so good they were having some customer services issues with the influx of new business and they want to know how to deal with people.
In the same city there were other companies that were growing and hiring new people. They were in customer service and wanted to help the employees deal with difficult people over the phone.
There was a minister in the workshop who was experiencing significant growing pains and he needs help in dealing with some of the challenges that surfaced as a result of growth.
The same thing in Framington, NM. Some many people have migrated there over the last few years that it was difficult to get a reasonably price apartment.
In Florida, where the housing market really took a dip, the 85 people in my workshop were talking about the opportunities they were seeing in water treatment, customer service and other service areas.
I get back to NEO and I read about Dimora accusing the Plain Dealer of being pro- republican. I read that municipalities were filing law suits against each other for companies moving down the street (Hudson and Macedonia) and a Cleveland union wanting paid for work it did not perform.
I did not see any of that nonsense in newspapers in the other cities I visited.
I am coming to one conclusion: NEO is different. Our divided government structures (50+ municipalities), our need to protect our turf (Dimora) and our entitlement mentality (Cleveland Union) is causing problems.
Other cities are dealing with difficult economic issues. What I read in other local newspapers were intelligent articles about important issues.
Don’t get me wrong. NEO is my home and I am proud to live and do business here but we make it so hard. I run Business Mastery Advisory Boards for small businesses (www.businessmasterynow.com) and I am surprised about how the discussion keeps moving to how to do business outside NEO. I recently read a NEOSA survey that local IT companies are doing well with 50% of the business coming from outside NEO. I find that strange with the glut of IT talent that companies have to go outside the region. I would think there is more than enough business in NEO.
If you are from NEO and are reading this post please share your thoughts.
I have not posted to this blog in over a month. I have been traveling around the country delivering a workshop on dealing with difficult people.
I want to share some observations with you about what I learned and observed.
First, some observations about the people who attended the Dealing with Difficult People Workshop.
There are three types of people who attend this workshop. The first type includes people who are not happy with their relationships and they find certain people and their styles hard to deal with. They want to reduce the stress associated with certain people.
The second type are the difficult people themselves and they know they are difficult and they want do things differently (or they attend because their boss told them too.)
The third type is the one that interests me the most. They are difficult and they come to the Dealing with Difficult People workshop because they are asked to as part of ongoing continuing education. The managers who send them hope they will understand that they are difficult and change their behaviors as a result of what they learn. These individuals are easy to identify because they try to take over the workshop. After all, they think they know the material better than me. I find this interesting because the material is based on a book I coauthored called The Platinum Rule for Small Business Mastery (available on amazon.com) and it discusses different behavioral styles, their strength and weaknesses and how to build on personal strength and it provides suggestion on minimizing weaknesses. It is the foundation of much of the business coaching and consulting I do to grow revenues, create and maintain a competitive advantage and provide accountability to my business owner clients.
I had four individuals from the same company (all IT professionals) challenge me during one seminar and I explained to them why people typically come to the seminar. They fell into the last category (managers asked them to come and did not tell them they were difficult). They realized their manager was sending them a message about how difficult they were. Once they realized why they were they were at the workshop they became model students.
I find it interesting that people are sent to a workshop and not told why. As a manager, I find that people can be difficult when they do not know the rules. They can also be perceived as difficult because the rules (for this style) are made to be broken. Let’s call this “It is easier to ask for permission than forgiveness” behavior style. For this type of individual that are primarily concerned with results – sometimes results at the expense of relationships. A simple adaptability strategy would be simply to understand others have different priorities and they can get more done with honey and not vinegar.
I will be talking more about the different behavioral styles in future posts. I can assure you they will not be so far apart.
I am doing a "How to Deal With Difficult People" workshop on 9/9/08 in Akron, Ohio from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM. If you want to learn more contact me at the number below.
In my next post I want to talk about some variances I observed in the economy in different parts of the country.
To Your Continues Success
Ron Finklestein Inspiring, leading and motivating others to action that leads to successful results. www.businessmasterynow.com 330-990-0788 ron@akris.net
I received this email from an associate. It is a very different kind of post nthan what I usually put on my small business blog but this email touched me deeply and I wanted to share it with you. I have no way of knowing where it my have originiated (or if it is true), but if it is true, there is a beautiful soul working in the dead letter office of the US postal service.
Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month. The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could so she dictated these words:
Dear God, Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick. I hope you will play with her. She likes to play with balls and to swim. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her. You will know that she is my dog. I really miss her. Love, Meredith.
We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredith, and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had.
Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed, 'To Meredith'...in an unfamiliar hand writing. Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called, 'When a Pet Dies'. Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of Abbeyand Meredith and this note:
Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you. I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much. By the way, I'm easy to find, I am wherever there is love. Love, God
Dear Meredith, Abbey arrived safely in heaven. Having the picture was a big help. I recognized Abbey right away. Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets to keep your picture in, so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by.
I was recently selected to conduct webinars with other business professionals. I am proud of this association and wanted to share some of the details with you so you could captialize on this opportunity as well. With this opportunity you can experience high quality business training from the comfort of your office or home.
If you have any questions please feel free to call me. My phone number is 300-990-0788. My email address is ron@akris.net.
Thanks for reading - Ron Finklestein
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I have not written a post in a while because I have been on the road. I recently made a road trip around the country doing speeches and teaching seminars and workshop on how to deal with difficult people. It is amazing to me how people are the same wherever I go.
During this trip I must have talked to 300 people from all walks of life. These individuals were located in New Your State to New Mexico and I heard the same story again and again – my business is good.
I talked to kitchen designers in New York and they were having their best year ever. They are hiring and they attended the workshop to be more effective in dealing with customer related issues that happen when you redo a kitchen. I talked to business consultant who were doing well. The consultants who were doing well were very clear on their value proposition. The ones that did not have clear value proposition were not doing so well.
Even the bail bonds people (in el Paso) I talked to were having a good year (OK that might be an stretch. But I think that might be more localized to El Paso and the border issues they deal with.)
Every city I was in the headlines in the paper promoted a recession. Tell that to the nursing supervisor in Albuquerque who could not find a reasonably price apartment. Though housing processes are dropping is some parts of the country it is not doing so everywhere.
Tell that to a minister who is rebuilding a church after a fire. Money is tight but people are giving to what is important to them.
Tell that to a training company who is doing project management training. She is so busy her company is doing two classes a day; one in the morning and one in the evening. What I am seeing is not what is being reported.
Why is that? I am not sure but I do know good news does not sell newspapers (especially in an election year.)
My business is doing well. People are slower to make a decision but they are deciding. I had three great opportunities surface in the last 24 hours.
How much is election year hype and how much is it expectations. Does the expectation come before the actual recession or does the recession generate the expectations?
If you are clear on your value proposition and you have an effective marketing campaign in place I would think you are doing ok.
Have I changed my behavior – sure, especially when it comes to driving. I try hard to make sure the trip is necessary and the business cannot be handled over the phone. I recently drove to Canfield (50 miles each way) and the trip cost me about 15 dollars in gas. I am not driving less as much as I am being more purposeful. I also see the strong potential in high gas prices: more green technology, more alternatives, and more opportunity for some creative entrepreneur.
I have seen an increase in my grocery bill but I still have to eat. The good news is that I being forces to eat differently (more healthy) because of the cost. I find that a great opportunity to change my behavior for the better. I am not eating out as much. I am selecting less processed foods when I do eat out. I dropped 12 pounds over the last 8 weeks. If it takes higher food prices for me to be more selective how can that be totally bad?
I figure if I look hard enough I can find something good about in just about any situation. I refuse to buy into the recession. I refuse to buy into the negative beliefs about the economy. My thought is that I can change my behavior, adapt to the situation and still grow my business.
Maybe if enough of us don’t buy in the recession, maybe there does not need to be one.
11 Actions you can take to Gorw your Business During Tough Economic Times
Create a Strategy . The first action you must take is to create a marketing plan. You must get clear on who is your best customers, where to find them, what problems you solve and why they should buy from you. This does not require a long document but clarity in thinking. All eleven actions are documented in 49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) to Grow Sales. The book is available on Amzon.com.
Be Consistent . You must be consistent in your message and brand throughout all your marketing activities. Otherwise potential customer can get very confused. Most people do not lose an opportunity to the competition; they lose the opportunity to complacency of the prospect. When the prospect gets confused they do nothing. Be consistent in your message.
Use Press Releases . Let the world know what you are up to. Use press releases to target specific locations. Write the press release with a unique angle that makes it easy for reporters and other readers to read your message. There is the possibility for a huge return for minimal investment.
Create Controversy . Take you message, your story and build some controversy so it is interesting to others. Take something that everyone is talking (newspapers, magazines, industry blogs, etc) about and incorporate that into your message.
Write Articles. Writing articles is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to get your name out and increase visibility. There are hundreds of sites looking for articles. The key is to write about what your prospects what to hear about, provide value and have a clear call to action.
Networking for Referrals . The quickest and fastest way to get new business is to ask for it; especially from your existing customers. They know your products and services so pick up the phone, take them out to lunch and ask them if they know anyone who they would introduce you to who could use your products or services.
Create Your Business Mastery Advisory Board. Create your own advisory board. Many business owners think they can go it alone. You can’t and the sooner you realize this the faster you can the result you want. It is all about people. If you do not test your message with your peers and see what works, you are wasting, time, energy and money.
Generation Leads . Use Teleseminars and Webinars as a marketing tool so people can find out what you are about. These can be free or paid. The key is to provide value so people listening want to engage you. The beauty of this approach is people who are interested in what you are promoting naturally opt-in to listen to your story.
Use Electronic Newsletters. Electronic newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with your audience. They opt-in so you know they are interested. Having someone buy your products and services is as much need as it is timing. Your name (product) needs to be top of mind when they need something. A newsletter can do that for you.
Speaking Before Groups. Public speaking is one of the best approaches to generating new business. You need to be professional and provide value but where are you going to get an opportunity to have 100 people pay to listen to you talk about what is important to you and how it can help them. If you are afraid of speaking, get trained. There are many different organizations to help you.
Create an Event . Create and event and make it a party. People are social animals who love to be involved and find deals. You can do a grand opening, grand reopening, anniversary sale, holiday sales or any one of 100 reasons to have a party and invite people into your business.
What to do next to Grow your Business
I had a consulting company hire me to help them grow their business. All I did was bring them back to what they did successful to grow their business. Effectively, they got selfish. This resulted in a 35% year over year growth rate.
I worked with a patent agent and he had a 150% return on his investment. We got him focused on who his idea customer is. By simply getting clear and targeting his ideal client, he had his best month ever. I worked with an Information Technology company and we reduce his time to make for a specific product by 800%.
I worked with a telephony company and took a service they provided to their existing customer at no charge and help them turn this into a product they use to expand their market.
It is all about getting clear: your market, your customers, your product, your services and taking action. If you are thinking about taking action you are already too late. It is not about thinking, it is about doing. If you don’t know how, hire someone, read a book, call someone who will share with you his experiences. Take ownership for your situation and take action to move forward.
Ronald Finklestein , President of AKRIS, INC, is a small business success expert, business coach, consultant, speaker, author, and trainer, and has published three books, 49 Marketing Secrets (THAT WORK) to Grow Sales, Celebrating Success! Fourteen Ways to a Successful Company and The Platinum Rule to Small Business Mastery. Ron’s client have increase sales 35% year over year, experienced 150% return on investment, opened new markets and created new products that have transformed companies. Finklestein is available for coaching and consulting, speaking engagements, workshops, and seminars. You can contact him at ron@ronfinklestein.com or (330) 990-0788. Sign up for his newsletter at http://www.businessmasterynow.com. All the books mentioned above are available on www.amazon.com.
I upgrades to Vista SP1 because of problems. Roxio (used to burn CD/DVD) stopped working. It came installed on my computer when I purchased it.
I spent hours on the Roxio web site trying to get help. All I got was frustrated. They have this cute icon called ask roxey and they should dump it for all the good it does.
I finally found an email address and asked for help. Here is the email I sent.
I am running roxio that came preinstalled on my HP notebook. The computer was purchased directly from HP.
I restored the software from the recovery disk but to no avail.
The Roxio banner easy creator 9 comes up and it never goes beyond that. I let it run for 3 hours and it takes 50% of the CPU cycles.
Reinstalling the software from the control panel does not fix the problem.
I am running vista SP1 32 bit.
Here is the email I got back -
Dear Customer,
Registration Support can not assist you with Technical/Customer Support Issues. The following are your options for getting in touch with support. 1. Self Service Tools There are a number of tools you can use like our virtual agent Roxann, our searchable knowledgebase and our discussion forum where you can post questions to your common challenges. They can all be found by going to http://support.roxio.com. 2. E-mail/Webticket Support To e-mail support or service, you can visit the following link. http://selfserve.roxio.com/ Login with your registered email address and password.
3. Phone Inside Sales for pre-sales questions, please call 1-866-280-7694.
4. Premium Paid Support is available for $1.89/min at 1-866-434-9871 (Monday - Friday, 11:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M., EST - excluding Roxio holidays). Truly a canned email. No concern for the customer. The products they list on the web site is not the product installed on my computer.
They would do the world a favor and sell the company to someone who cares about the product and the customer experience.
Eight hours later I am no closer to knowing how to fix the problem. At least I downloaded some open source that works.
For you business owners hiding behind the web please note these kinds of blog posts cannot be good for business. Remember it is the customer that keeps you in business.
Thanks Roxio for wasting my time energy and money. Thanks HP for putting crappy software from nonresponsive vendors on the PC you sold me.
Opening your own business is just a mixed bag of emotions and often an incredibly hard lesson in reality. Much of what is encompassed during the initial start up phase of a small business is a trial and error process. Every entrepreneur starts out with the best intentions and an overabundance of ambition. A business plan has been crafted and parts have already begun to be implemented. There is a general excitement yet a lofty fear of the unknown. Constant worry about whether you are doing anything right is a daily occurrence.
However, as you begin to grow confident and your business picks up speed, you begin to more clearly see what is necessary to make the business work. No amount of planning can ever fully prepare you for daily life as a sole proprietor. It is an experience you need to live every day and learn from every minute. As a relatively new business owner myself, I thought I could impart some of my own trial and error learning to other new start ups who have concerns all over the map about different aspects of business.
In the beginning, I just couldn’t see how I could ever separate my business from my personal things. As a work at home mom, you can often find me working on the floor next to my young child playing or contemplating the next article topic while making dinner, separating any aspect of my work and business life seemed ridiculous to me. I had concerns about being able to maintain a consistent income, worried about how tax season would play out, and dealing with day to day life of my family. It was a little bit frightening, partly frustrating, and highly thrilling to get started.
As I began to find clients and consistent work, I started to find the confidence I needed to tackle bigger business matters. I became ruthless about income and expense tracking and I slowly began to make sense of what it would take to earn a good living. In the beginning, keeping finances separate was not much of a concern. Any payments I received went directly in to my personal bank account to cover the bills. It was recorded but at that point, it was not divided into any particular category other than income. When things began to pick up and I was making a profit that exceeded my personal expenses, I finally had some money to put back into my business. I opened a paypal account and began to use it for business reasons more than personal but still did not separate the two entirely. Then the end of the year came along. The first year I would be responsible for my own taxes. What a wake up call, sorting through expenses for 12 months and having to double the work because not everything was separated.
Since that time, everything I have related to business is a separate entity from my personal finances, including credit cards, paypal accounts, and bank accounts. While I am still just as responsible for all of the bills, I have at least placed a clearly divided line that will help me sort and account for all things financial. Along the way, I have also come to understand a lot more about what it takes to stay in the game. This was not something I could have learned, or believed, from any other source. If I could sum it up, do not waste precious time worrying about the right and wrong details of your business, pay attention to the daily lessons you are learning in real life and use what you have learned to make things move forward more effectively.
Having been a public speaker for years, this was the first time I tested myself again others in the speaking profession. I decided to enter after receiving positive feedback from people at events where I have spoken: chambers, business associations, business presentations, etc.
It was an uncomfortable, exciting and scary experience.
The speech topic was Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway.
I chose that topic because that was exactly what I was doing: feeling the fear and doing it anyway. Besides, it was supposed to be a motivational speech and I needed something I could work with.
The first challenge was to get through the club contest. I did that.
The second challenge was to get through the area contest. I did that.
Now I am competing at the district level and I am up against some very tough competition.
This is both exciting and scary. It is exciting because to reach this level implies I have mastered – to a certain extent – some public speaking skills. Scary because I realize how much I have yet to learn. Exciting because all my years of hard work are paying off; scary because I know I have years of hard work left.
The important thing was that I did not let my fear hold me back. Never having been in a speech contest, I created all kinds of scenarios in my mind and none of them were very flattering. I continue to learn that FEAR simple means False Evidence Appearing Real. My mind creates more obstacles for me than reality ever could. When you begin to understand that is it easier to feel the fear and do it anyway.
Earlier in the week I wrote an open letter to The Akron Beacon Journal (ABJ)
In essence it said, I am writing an open letter because nothing has changed after four phone calls over the last six months. The ABJ thinks they are doing me a favor by dropping off unsolicited newspapers in my driveway, street, sidewalk (and wherever the paper lands). It is wrapped in bright oranges plastic and you can see it up and down the street (after the snow melts); sometimes for weeks on end.
Less than a day after writing this post I received a call from the ABJ saying I would not receive any more papers. I modified my original BLOG post to reflect that piece of news.
The next day I received another newspaper. Can you believe it?
I was speaking with another blogger and he mentioned he was having the same problem the ABJ. He lives in Eastern Summit County so I now know it is not localized to West Akron.
Can you imagine how many people the ABJ is alienating; the silent majority who just pick up the trash that is left on the side walk?
One local newspaper started to do the same thing the ABJ was doing. All I did was send the editor an email asking they remove me from their delivery. This delivery practice stopped immediately. Why can not the ABJ understand this simple practice?
The good news it is a great example of creating negative buzz for your company.
I am writing an open letter because nothing has changed after four phone calls over the last six months.
The ABJ thinks they are doing me a favor by dropping off unsolicited newspapers in my driveway, street, sidewalk (and wherever the paper lands). It is wrapped in bright oranges plastic and you can see it up and down the street (after the snow melts); sometimes for weeks on end.
Because it is rainy or snowy, many times the paper is not readable. I am of the firm opinion they are littering and they should be fined for each newspaper that sits on the street. We have a do not call list, a do not fax list, why not a no ABJ newspaper list?
Because it is not at my door or in my paper box, I do not know it is there until I am either leaving or coming back from an appointment. Sometimes, when it snows, I may not know it is there until the snow melts enough for the orange plastic to be seen.
These "drops" as they are called have been sponsored by the Cleveland Zoo and the Cleveland Art Museum. Do they actually think I would visit these otherwise fine organization under these circumstances? In case I am not clear the answer is a respounding NO!
I called them (ABJ) and told them if this is the service I get and I am not a customer, what will happen when I am a customer. Will I be ignored even more (like that is possible).
It is not uncommon to see these orange plastic bags in the street for days (and sometimes weeks) on end. People are not going to walk out in the cold and wet weather to pick them up. I usually stop the car and reach out to get the paper on my way in or out of the driveway. The paper is usually wet and I do not want it in my car but I like it less on the street.
If anyone has any contacts at the ABJ, please let them know that this West Akron resident does not want a paper that is not accessible, wet, timely or otherwise inconvenient to read. Nor do I like to see my neighborhood street lined with this orange plastic litter.
What really makes this so ironic is that I like the paper; but the service sucks (hear that SUCKS) so much I will not order it. I want to order the paper but I won’t. Any company that will not listen to me when I am not a customer will probably not listen to me if I become a customer. How is that for order prevention at its best?
If anyone has a meaningful contact at the ABJ and they can stop this littering, please have them call me at 330-990-0788. I really do want off their list.
Sincerely,
Ron Finklestein
Update on this post. Two days after writing this I received a call from ABJ and they tell me this practice will stop - at least at my address. Stay tuned and if anything changes I will let you know.
I was at a basketball game last week (Cleveland Cavaliers.) After the game, as I was walking to the car, I was really focused on where my feet landed. It was icy and I did not want to fall.
I almost ran into a police officer who was directing traffic for cars leaving the parking garage.
He looked at me and said (rather sarcastically) “don’t you see the other people waiting?”
I said “Actually, I didn’t. I was watching where I was walking so I do not fall.”
When he realized I was not being an idiot and trying to ignore his authority, he was very polite and let me pass.
As a business coach and consultant I realized right then the value of focus. I always knew of and taught about focus but I really understood focus.
Focus allows you to stay clear on the desired outcome. It allows you not to be distracted. I was so focused on not falling that I did not see the other people to my right – no more than 5 feet away. That can be both a blessing and a curse; a blessing because it allows for great achievement; a curse because you might miss other opportunities or situations that would suggest a different path.
I like what Henry Ford said. “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.”
So how can you become focused and stay focused? It is easy to talk about and hard to implement. Simple put you must decide what is important to you and stay focused on the desired outcome. Some call it a goal, some call it being focused, some call it tunnel vision, some call it discipline, but you must decide what you want.
There are many systems for setting goals. Jim Rohn, jack Canfield, and Stephen Covey all discuss systems for setting goals. They discuss the different between a goal and a dream.
Let me suggest some things I do and maybe the will help you if you implement them.
1. Get clear on what you want and set a specific date you will make it happen
2. Get an accountability partner and have them hold you accountable
3. Be honest with your accountability partner.
4. Create a group of people you meet with regularly that can help you with objective feedback. Provide others the same objective feedback
5. Make it a priority: your accountability partner, your advisory board, your goal
6. Pay someone to hold you accountable to help you achieve success. Why pay them? Because of they don’t perform you can fire them.
Imagine if you would a team of high powered executive who meet monthly, trying to decide if they could really trust each other.
After 3 years of being together, meeting monthly, to solicit help and feedback of important issues we face in our business, we did not know if we could trust each other with our deepest secrets, or wildest dreams.
What do you do? What brought this on?
We decided to take a 2 day off site business retreat to get clearer on what we can do to drive our business and professional performance to a whole new level. Below are some comments from the participants:
I learned a great deal about myself, trust, perception of people, the value of focus, misconceptions, the power of questioning, personal/work balance, the value of constructive dialog and risk. The key for me is so what do I do with the information and the group so generously provided?
Then the question in my mind is how we all learn how to be authentic in order to help others and be our true selves, not just the persona and person the world wants us to be.
Agreed on the points from the various emails today. When I floated the idea for this extended get together back at our November advisory board meeting (www.businessmasterynow.com), I was uncertain as to the reaction it would engender. When the reaction from all of you was so positive and the interest in participating so strong, I got a bit nervous about the actual event, particularly because we had such a loose agenda. However, in the days leading up to the retreat, it occurred to me that we have a group that’s been together and evolving for a long time and that I should just trust in the group and enjoy the ride.
What a weekend. The sense of community among us was palatable, the sense of purpose and genuine desire to help each other was so American, and the outcomes for me were very powerful.
I personally value the input that I received (personally and professionally), and it has put me into some very intense and positive ongoing reflection about my path and a plan for that determined path. I look forward to continuing to grow our relationships and mutual impact for and with each other.
