What’s most important today?

Not what’s most urgent – what’s one thing that you need to do (that you’ve likely been procrastinating) that will have the greatest LONG-TERM impact on your business?

Forget everything else and GET ON IT!

Be "Famous"

If you were “famous” for what you do in your industry, do you think that would help your business?

In order to become famous you have to use your name and your face in your marketing, and be the kind of person your potential customers want to do business with when looking for what you sell. 

Have visual and auditory messages that make people think and are hard to forget, and deliver those messages often. 

It’s worth the effort because unless you screw up and become “infamous,” once you’re famous for what you do, that’s it – you’re famous, and your marketing and sales efforts will be easier and more effective forever. 

Get Famous. 

Keeping freedom in our markets

We are all participants in business and the marketplace – as leaders, employees and consumers. 

We must ask, do we want coercion or consent in our marketplace?  Do we want top-down order and regulation, or spontaneous order generated by voluntary exchanges under a rule of law?

In the end, protectionist policies, barriers to entry, and over-regulation are constrictions on marketplace liberties – and since we ARE the market, they are constrictions on our personal liberties.

Freedom and liberty aren’t just things we read about in forth and fifth grade history class.  The fight for them is unfolding each day around us by elected officials, boards, and committees everywhere – some wanting to sacrifice pieces of it in the name of (insert name of a cause that seems to sound pretty good to most people here), and others seeing that it needs to be protected.

How do you feel about it?

What will be different this year?

If you want better results from your company this year compared to last year, then you have to DO something different this year.

What is it?

What’s special about your company?

Quick, why should people buy from you instead of your competition?

If you can’t say it, how can your people say it to customers?

Business Diluents

You can be great at nearly anything, but not everything – and not lots of stuff at once.

Focus works when you have less things to focus on.

How many rabbits are you chasing?

Half Committed

Can a leader be only partially committed?  Sure.  I see it all the time.  And then the leader deludes himself by saying he’s committed to the leadership of his own business (or himself/herself), but is not willing to do what it takes to fix it.  Is that you?

But there’s only two choices.  You’re all in, or you’re out. 

Well?

Hiring People Just Like You

Look around your business.  Are there a lot of people that are about your age, and have about the same interests and skills as you? 

If you always hire people with the same attitude and skill set that you have, then everyone will be just like you; and that’s a problem.  A business needs a variety of talents, attitudes and skills to carry out its various functions. 

Don’t you want people with different strengths than you have to do jobs you don’t want to do, don’t do well, or can’t do?

Big things come from little things

The big things (profit, growth rate, reputation) come from the result of dozens of little things (hiring, training, quality and service details, efficiency) being repeated over and over. 

You can’t fix big things unless you get the smaller things right.

Pay attention to the little things. 

Alternating Current

We all have our days.  Better days.  Worse days.  Energetic days.  Down days.  Inspired days.  Cloudy days.

As a leader, we should know this about ourselves.  When we are down, we shouldn’t force ourselves to do an important project or meeting – we should do “busy work” instead.  When we’re up, or in the appropriate zone, we must take advantage of it and use the emotional energy to do great stuff.

Get the best out of you when it’s most available.