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Reject the Pack Mentality: Keeping Your Chin (and Business) Up

Warren Buffett once said this about economic downturns: “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” If you run your business at the top of your game, you won’t have to worry so much about your level of exposure to the economic elements. Tim Northrup, author of Five Hidden Mistakes CEOs Make, and Joseph Cardamone, president of the United States Federation of Small Businesses, offer this sage advice:

Show me the money. Communicate expectations to customers and get paid on time. Consider offering a prepayment discount or incentive.

Tech savvy and cost savvy go hand in hand. Use Web-based accounting software to avoid paying an outside source and try video conferencing to save money by conducting your business meeting without leaving home.

Spruce up your site. A Web address is more important than a physical address. Make sure your website is current and sticky, encouraging viewers to stay awhile by refreshing content daily and going interactive with a blog.

Overanalyze. Examine your customers’ purchasing patterns to determine if you should shorten your inventory holding cycle to reduce costs, innovate by improving your product or service or add to your bottom line by expanding your product offerings.

Who’s in control? Is it you, or is your business running you? Get in control by holding yourself accountable for your objectives. Set benchmarks to evaluate your progress and see if you are zeroing in on your goals.

Let go of solo. Don’t think you are the only person who can do it all. Trust your people and their instincts. Make overall success of your business more important than individual achievement.

Embrace change. Make the acceptance of change part of your business philosophy. Don’t let the people who work for you become change critics or change-resistant. Make change the fabric of your business.

Apr 26, 2012

#business #entrepreneur #advice

Apr 26, 2012205 notes

Apr 26, 201296,401 notes

Apr 26, 201272 notes

workability:

The Bible cautions: “As you reap, so you sow.” This is pure science.

It is the same as “what goes up must come down”; and for every action there is a reaction.

What you put into your marketing strategy, you’ll get that much worth out of it — big or small.

Thus, while there are inevitably going to be mistakes made, don’t keep making the same mistakes.

Scientist, Albert Einstein, describes insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Logic, then, would dictate that to get different, better results, you need to take different, better actions.

Zen principles subscribe to an Eight-fold Path, which includes: Right Action, Right Understanding, Right Mindfulness and Right Effort.

Being right

In business, as in marketing, learning from mistakes is essential.

When mistakes are made, dwelling on them and laying blame might not be the Right Action.

Analysing and then remedying systems, to minimise chances of the mistake being repeated, is far more productive.

Identifying what needs to be changed has proven to be a priceless art in applying marketing plans. This is Right Understanding.

But, identification without solutions is nothing, so this is where Right Effort comes into the picture.

The overarching emphasis is on resisting the urge to constantly focus on what is being done wrong; but rather on acknowledging what is being done right; learning what more can be done right and then using positive energy to do the right things the right way.

Potent purposes

One popular marketing website cites several “alternative approaches” as the methods to success for many businessmen.

• They don’t waste the majority of their time nitpicking at minor things

• They focus on what they want, not on what they fear or detest

• They take full responsibility for their business — in triumph or failure

• They work hard to put things right instead of whining about what they think is wrong

Right Action, and everything else, must start with the Right Attitude.

Attitude is a way of seeing … as is marketing. So it makes perfect sense for the one to affect the outcome of the other.