Got Attitude? By Jim Rohn
The process of human change begins within us. We all have tremendous potential. We all desire good results from our efforts. Most of us are willing to work hard and to pay the price that success and happiness demand.
Each of us has the ability to put our unique human potential into action and to acquire a desired result. But the one thing that determines the level of our potential, produces the intensity of our activity and predicts the quality of the result we receive, is our attitude.
Attitude determines how much of the future we are allowed to see. It decides the size of our dreams and influences our determination when we are faced with new challenges. No other person on earth has dominion over our attitude. People can affect our attitude by teaching us poor thinking habits or unintentionally misinforming us or providing us with negative sources of influence, but no one can control our attitude unless we voluntarily surrender that control.
No one else “makes us angry.” We make ourselves angry when we surrender control of our attitude. What someone else may have done is irrelevant. We choose, not they. They merely put our attitude to a test. If we select a volatile attitude by becoming hostile, angry, jealous or suspicious, then we have failed the test. If we condemn ourselves by believing that we are unworthy, then again, we have failed the test.
If we care at all about ourselves, then we must accept full responsibility for our own feelings. We must learn to guard against those feelings that have the capacity to lead our attitude down the wrong path and to strengthen those feelings that can lead us confidently into a better future.
If we want to receive the rewards the future holds in trust for us, then we must exercise the most important choice given to us as members of the human race by maintaining total dominion over our attitude. Our attitude is an asset, a treasure of great value, which must be protected accordingly. Beware of the vandals and thieves among us who would injure our positive attitude or seek to steal it away.
Having the right attitude is one of the basics that success requires. The combination of a sound personal philosophy and a positive attitude about ourselves and the world around us gives us an inner strength and a firm resolve that influences all the other areas of our existence.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
How to Avoid Failure!
Avoiding Failure
What could a business owner have do to avoid this problem? A few ideas include:
1. Seeking business advice from an independent party before embarking upon expansion to determine feasibility of the new venture;
2. Before injecting personal cash into a business, test the business on a professional financier.
If they won’t lend to you, you have to ask why. They usually know more about risk than anyone and their disinterest is a powerful signal that a business represents lots of risk.
3. Check the existing, parent, business was running properly before growth:
a. Make sure you have an organisational chart prepared to ensure everything is done properly;
b. Prepare proper job descriptions for all staff to ensure no gaps or overlaps, and you have the right people in the right jobs.
c. Check profit sustainability before, during and after growth.
4. Ensure those managing/acquiring credit have training or experience;
5. Create budgets for those in charge of divisions to ensure each is profitable and contributes to overall profit rather than dragging down the rest of the business;
6. Ensure reporting and accountability for those in charge of each revenue/profit producing area of the business;
7. Ensure someone with experience is managing the cash and not keeping management in the dark;
8. Listen to your instincts and get help/advice quickly if you feel uncomfortable about a financial position.
Help and advice is not as hard to get as you might think. Many finance professionals are happy to have a no obligation discussion about your situation and advise if your worries are well founded or not. The head in the sand approach can be very costly for all concerned.
What could a business owner have do to avoid this problem? A few ideas include:
1. Seeking business advice from an independent party before embarking upon expansion to determine feasibility of the new venture;
2. Before injecting personal cash into a business, test the business on a professional financier.
If they won’t lend to you, you have to ask why. They usually know more about risk than anyone and their disinterest is a powerful signal that a business represents lots of risk.
3. Check the existing, parent, business was running properly before growth:
a. Make sure you have an organisational chart prepared to ensure everything is done properly;
b. Prepare proper job descriptions for all staff to ensure no gaps or overlaps, and you have the right people in the right jobs.
c. Check profit sustainability before, during and after growth.
4. Ensure those managing/acquiring credit have training or experience;
5. Create budgets for those in charge of divisions to ensure each is profitable and contributes to overall profit rather than dragging down the rest of the business;
6. Ensure reporting and accountability for those in charge of each revenue/profit producing area of the business;
7. Ensure someone with experience is managing the cash and not keeping management in the dark;
8. Listen to your instincts and get help/advice quickly if you feel uncomfortable about a financial position.
Help and advice is not as hard to get as you might think. Many finance professionals are happy to have a no obligation discussion about your situation and advise if your worries are well founded or not. The head in the sand approach can be very costly for all concerned.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Hurricane
What is a Hurricane?
A hurricane is a big storm that forms over the ocean. Hurricanes form over warm parts of the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. They form near the equator in the Tropical Zone.
Causes Effects
• Warm wet mass of air over the sea that begin to evaporate
• Water has to be 79 degrees or warmer
• Combined actions of air, water, and heat produce a huge spinning system of clouds rain and wind
• Rain causes floods
• Thunderstorms are produced
• Wind smashes everything in its path
• The most dangerous part of a hurricane is the storm surge
• Wind causes ocean waves to rise over the land these waves can reach 30 feet in height
TYPES OF HURRICANES
Category 1 Minimal Wind speeds of 74 - 95 MPH
Category 2 Moderate Wind speeds of 96 - 110 MPH
Category 3 Extensive Wind speeds of 111 - 130 MPH
Category 4 Extreme Wind speeds of 131 - 155 MPH
Category 5 Catastrophic Wind speeds of over 155 MPH
Safety Tips...
• Listen to TV or radio for weather bulletins
• Board up garage and porch doors and stay away from windows
• Leave home if you might be affected by storm tide or flooding
• Follow evacuation routes to nearest shelter
• Turn off electricity and water
• Fill containers, including bathtub, with several days of drinking water
• Turn up refrigerator to maximum cold but don't open if not necessary
• Use phone only for emergencies
Facts About Hurricanes
• Diameter of the eye can be 12 to 125 meters across
• Other names for a hurricane are cyclone and typhoon
• Hurricane season lasts from June 1 to November 30
• Names are chosen from an alphabetical list of alternating male and female names
• The National Weather Service started using men's names in 1979
A hurricane is a big storm that forms over the ocean. Hurricanes form over warm parts of the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. They form near the equator in the Tropical Zone.
Causes Effects
• Warm wet mass of air over the sea that begin to evaporate
• Water has to be 79 degrees or warmer
• Combined actions of air, water, and heat produce a huge spinning system of clouds rain and wind
• Rain causes floods
• Thunderstorms are produced
• Wind smashes everything in its path
• The most dangerous part of a hurricane is the storm surge
• Wind causes ocean waves to rise over the land these waves can reach 30 feet in height
TYPES OF HURRICANES
Category 1 Minimal Wind speeds of 74 - 95 MPH
Category 2 Moderate Wind speeds of 96 - 110 MPH
Category 3 Extensive Wind speeds of 111 - 130 MPH
Category 4 Extreme Wind speeds of 131 - 155 MPH
Category 5 Catastrophic Wind speeds of over 155 MPH
Safety Tips...
• Listen to TV or radio for weather bulletins
• Board up garage and porch doors and stay away from windows
• Leave home if you might be affected by storm tide or flooding
• Follow evacuation routes to nearest shelter
• Turn off electricity and water
• Fill containers, including bathtub, with several days of drinking water
• Turn up refrigerator to maximum cold but don't open if not necessary
• Use phone only for emergencies
Facts About Hurricanes
• Diameter of the eye can be 12 to 125 meters across
• Other names for a hurricane are cyclone and typhoon
• Hurricane season lasts from June 1 to November 30
• Names are chosen from an alphabetical list of alternating male and female names
• The National Weather Service started using men's names in 1979
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Top Seven Reasons Why Businesses Succeed
1. A clear and concise vision and mission which is communicated to and understood by all the stakeholders (owners, management, employees, customers and suppliers) in the company.
This answers the question, “Why are we in business?”
2. A culture which meets the needs of the owners, the employees, customers and suppliers of the company.
This definition of culture answers the question, “How will we conduct ourselves as we do business?”
3. A uniqueness that separates the company from its competition
Thereby answering the question, “Why should our customers buy from us?”
4. Financial reserves such as ownership capital and outside lending resources, but most importantly, capital accumulated from a healthy stream of profits.
The healthy stream of profits will attract ever increasing amounts of ownership capital and lending resources to help the company grow.
5. The ability to attract top performing people to accomplish the vision and mission.
The really successful businesses do not depend on the charisma of any single individual, including that of the founder.
6. Dedication to the principle embodied by the Japanese word kaizen (never ending improvement)
Which means that even when things are going very well, successful companies strive almost obsessively to improve their product or service.
7. A focus on things that the company does well
and the sense to recognize that doing some things well does not mean that the company does everything well.
Sam
This answers the question, “Why are we in business?”
2. A culture which meets the needs of the owners, the employees, customers and suppliers of the company.
This definition of culture answers the question, “How will we conduct ourselves as we do business?”
3. A uniqueness that separates the company from its competition
Thereby answering the question, “Why should our customers buy from us?”
4. Financial reserves such as ownership capital and outside lending resources, but most importantly, capital accumulated from a healthy stream of profits.
The healthy stream of profits will attract ever increasing amounts of ownership capital and lending resources to help the company grow.
5. The ability to attract top performing people to accomplish the vision and mission.
The really successful businesses do not depend on the charisma of any single individual, including that of the founder.
6. Dedication to the principle embodied by the Japanese word kaizen (never ending improvement)
Which means that even when things are going very well, successful companies strive almost obsessively to improve their product or service.
7. A focus on things that the company does well
and the sense to recognize that doing some things well does not mean that the company does everything well.
Sam
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Sales: Attitudes of Top Achievers
If you think the same way as the top achievers think, you can begin to get the same results they do. Here are 10 psychological and practical ways to mirror the attitudes of top achievers.
1. See yourself as a consultant rather than a salesperson. Believe that you are a problem-solver with regard to your product and how the client can best use it.
2. Become a doctor of selling. Act in the best interests of your “patients” and have a high code of ethics.
3. See yourself as the president of your own sales corporation. Accept 100 percent responsibility for your results.
4. Commit yourself to being the best in your field. Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning.
5. Be ambitious, hungry, and determined to use selling as a steppingstone to the success you want in life.
6. Have integrity. Be honest with yourself and others.
7. Engage in thorough preparation prior to every call.
8. Be an excellent listener; be extremely customer-focused.
9. Have tremendous courage. Be willing to face your fears of rejection and failure, and overcome them.
10. Be highly persistent. Start your workday earlier, work harder, and stay longer.
To make these changes work you must walk, talk and behave consistently with them every hour of every day. By Brian Tracy
Things To Ponder:
Your attitude is either the lock on or key to your door of success.
It’s not what you are that holds you back, it’s what you think you’re not.
A smile is the light in your window that lets others know there is a caring person inside.
The most important three words you can say to yourself: “Yes, I can!”
If you believe you can… you probably can.
If you believe you won’t… you most assuredly won’t.
Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad.
1. See yourself as a consultant rather than a salesperson. Believe that you are a problem-solver with regard to your product and how the client can best use it.
2. Become a doctor of selling. Act in the best interests of your “patients” and have a high code of ethics.
3. See yourself as the president of your own sales corporation. Accept 100 percent responsibility for your results.
4. Commit yourself to being the best in your field. Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning.
5. Be ambitious, hungry, and determined to use selling as a steppingstone to the success you want in life.
6. Have integrity. Be honest with yourself and others.
7. Engage in thorough preparation prior to every call.
8. Be an excellent listener; be extremely customer-focused.
9. Have tremendous courage. Be willing to face your fears of rejection and failure, and overcome them.
10. Be highly persistent. Start your workday earlier, work harder, and stay longer.
To make these changes work you must walk, talk and behave consistently with them every hour of every day. By Brian Tracy
Things To Ponder:
Your attitude is either the lock on or key to your door of success.
It’s not what you are that holds you back, it’s what you think you’re not.
A smile is the light in your window that lets others know there is a caring person inside.
The most important three words you can say to yourself: “Yes, I can!”
If you believe you can… you probably can.
If you believe you won’t… you most assuredly won’t.
Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad.
Relationships Based on Trust
You never close a sale. You only begin a long-term relationship where both parties win.
Can you think of a successful relationship without mutual trust? Break that trust and you break the relationship. Subvert it and it’s almost impossible to put together again. Creating a long-term relationship takes two or more people—whether they’re executives, representatives of labor and management, or husband and wife—who are grounded in and operating on the same non-situational honesty.
The central secret of good communication is bringing the other person over to your side by satisfying one of every person’s most fundamental emotional needs: Make him or her feel valued. With rare exceptions, people who feel valued—who are allowed to feel important in the sense that they are recognized—answer with openness, cooperation and reciprocated respect. If you want respect, be respectable. If you want to be loved, be loveable. If you want to be trusted, be trustworthy. If you want a lifelong relationship, listen openly to the other person’s needs. Much more than trying to accumulate money and power, leaders in the new era will acquire good will by helping their associates, customers, neighbors, and loved ones to win. Instead of what can you do for me, we need to embrace the new stewardship role of what can I do for you.
Action Idea—At the beginning of each workday, do something special for someone you work with or provide a service for. At the end of each day, say or do something positive for a family member or friend.
Can you think of a successful relationship without mutual trust? Break that trust and you break the relationship. Subvert it and it’s almost impossible to put together again. Creating a long-term relationship takes two or more people—whether they’re executives, representatives of labor and management, or husband and wife—who are grounded in and operating on the same non-situational honesty.
The central secret of good communication is bringing the other person over to your side by satisfying one of every person’s most fundamental emotional needs: Make him or her feel valued. With rare exceptions, people who feel valued—who are allowed to feel important in the sense that they are recognized—answer with openness, cooperation and reciprocated respect. If you want respect, be respectable. If you want to be loved, be loveable. If you want to be trusted, be trustworthy. If you want a lifelong relationship, listen openly to the other person’s needs. Much more than trying to accumulate money and power, leaders in the new era will acquire good will by helping their associates, customers, neighbors, and loved ones to win. Instead of what can you do for me, we need to embrace the new stewardship role of what can I do for you.
Action Idea—At the beginning of each workday, do something special for someone you work with or provide a service for. At the end of each day, say or do something positive for a family member or friend.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Reflect on your business
A New Year – A good time to reflect on your business
The beginning of a new year is a good time to reflect on your business's progress over the past year and plan how you want your business to develop. Do you want increased success in 2011 or have the chance to enjoy the success you've achieved more? These top 10 New Year's resolutions are designed to help you strike a better work-life balance, so you can achieve a truly satisfying success in the New Year.
1) Learn how to delegate and do more of it. There are so many things to do when you're running a small business, it's easy to delude ourselves that we need to do all of them. Then we wonder why we're so tired and frazzled and have no time to do anything else! Determine Your Personal Return on Investment, and decide to let someone else do some of the tasks for a change. Delegation is the key to a healthy work-life balance.
2) Promote your business regularly and consistently. Too often the task of promoting a small business slips to the bottom of the to-do list in the press of urgent tasks. If you want to attract new customers, you have to make promotion a priority. Make a New Year's resolution to hire a marketing expert, or take the time to create a marketing plan on your own and follow through.
3) Make business planning a weekly event. Planning is vital if you want a healthy, growing business. Business planning lets you take stock of what worked and what didn't work, and helps you set new directions or adjust old goals. So why do it just once a year or once a quarter? Set aside time each week to review, adjust, and look forward - or even better, make business planning a part of each day. Not only will this help you avoid costly mistakes and stay on track, but you'll feel more focused and relaxed.
4) Learn something new. What you choose to learn may be directly related to your business, or completely unrelated. Learning something new will add to your skills and add a new dimension of interest to your life - another important part of achieving a healthy work-life balance. Depending on how you choose to learn, you may meet new and interesting people, who may become customers, colleagues, or friends. How will you find the time to learn something new? By delegating, remember?
5) Join a new business organization or networking group. There's nothing like talking to other business people for sparking new ideas, refining old ones, and making contacts. Whether it's a group specifically designed for networking or an organization dedicated to a particular type of business, in person or over the 'Net, making the effort to be a part of a group will revitalize you and your business.
6) Give something back to your community. There are all kinds of worthy organizations that make a difference in your community. Make a New Year's resolution to find a cause that matters to you, and give what you can. Make this the year that you serve on a committee, be a mentor, volunteer, or make regular donations to the groups in your community that try to make the place you live a better place. And those that give get.
7) Put time for you on your calendar. In Schedule Time for You, I point out how important it is to take the time to recharge and refresh yourself; a healthy work-life balance demands time out. All work and no play is a recipe for mental and physical disaster. So if you have trouble freeing up time to do the things you enjoy, write time regularly into your schedule to "meet with yourself" and stick to that commitment. If you won't invest in yourself, who will?
8) Set realistic goals. Goal setting is a valuable habit - if the goals lead to success rather than distress. Make a New Year's resolution that the goals you set will be goals that are achievable, rather than unrealistic pipe dreams that are so far out of reach they only lead to frustration.
9) Don't make do; get a new one. Is there a piece of equipment in your office that's interfering with your success or something that you lack that's making your working life harder? Whether it's an old fax machine that's a pain to use, or the need for a new employee to lighten your work load, make a New Year's resolution to stop putting off getting what you need. The irritation of making do just isn't worth it.
10) Drop what's not working for you and move on. All products aren't going to be super sellers, all sales methods aren't going to work for everyone, and all suppliers or contractors aren't going to be ideally suited to your business. If a technique or a product or a business relationship isn't working for you, stop using it. Don't invest a lot of energy into trying to make the unworkable workable. Move on. Something better will turn up.
Achieving a healthy work-life balance is like maintaining a good relationship; you have to keep working on it. But if you apply these New Year's resolutions throughout the year, your success is guaranteed!
Sam
The beginning of a new year is a good time to reflect on your business's progress over the past year and plan how you want your business to develop. Do you want increased success in 2011 or have the chance to enjoy the success you've achieved more? These top 10 New Year's resolutions are designed to help you strike a better work-life balance, so you can achieve a truly satisfying success in the New Year.
1) Learn how to delegate and do more of it. There are so many things to do when you're running a small business, it's easy to delude ourselves that we need to do all of them. Then we wonder why we're so tired and frazzled and have no time to do anything else! Determine Your Personal Return on Investment, and decide to let someone else do some of the tasks for a change. Delegation is the key to a healthy work-life balance.
2) Promote your business regularly and consistently. Too often the task of promoting a small business slips to the bottom of the to-do list in the press of urgent tasks. If you want to attract new customers, you have to make promotion a priority. Make a New Year's resolution to hire a marketing expert, or take the time to create a marketing plan on your own and follow through.
3) Make business planning a weekly event. Planning is vital if you want a healthy, growing business. Business planning lets you take stock of what worked and what didn't work, and helps you set new directions or adjust old goals. So why do it just once a year or once a quarter? Set aside time each week to review, adjust, and look forward - or even better, make business planning a part of each day. Not only will this help you avoid costly mistakes and stay on track, but you'll feel more focused and relaxed.
4) Learn something new. What you choose to learn may be directly related to your business, or completely unrelated. Learning something new will add to your skills and add a new dimension of interest to your life - another important part of achieving a healthy work-life balance. Depending on how you choose to learn, you may meet new and interesting people, who may become customers, colleagues, or friends. How will you find the time to learn something new? By delegating, remember?
5) Join a new business organization or networking group. There's nothing like talking to other business people for sparking new ideas, refining old ones, and making contacts. Whether it's a group specifically designed for networking or an organization dedicated to a particular type of business, in person or over the 'Net, making the effort to be a part of a group will revitalize you and your business.
6) Give something back to your community. There are all kinds of worthy organizations that make a difference in your community. Make a New Year's resolution to find a cause that matters to you, and give what you can. Make this the year that you serve on a committee, be a mentor, volunteer, or make regular donations to the groups in your community that try to make the place you live a better place. And those that give get.
7) Put time for you on your calendar. In Schedule Time for You, I point out how important it is to take the time to recharge and refresh yourself; a healthy work-life balance demands time out. All work and no play is a recipe for mental and physical disaster. So if you have trouble freeing up time to do the things you enjoy, write time regularly into your schedule to "meet with yourself" and stick to that commitment. If you won't invest in yourself, who will?
8) Set realistic goals. Goal setting is a valuable habit - if the goals lead to success rather than distress. Make a New Year's resolution that the goals you set will be goals that are achievable, rather than unrealistic pipe dreams that are so far out of reach they only lead to frustration.
9) Don't make do; get a new one. Is there a piece of equipment in your office that's interfering with your success or something that you lack that's making your working life harder? Whether it's an old fax machine that's a pain to use, or the need for a new employee to lighten your work load, make a New Year's resolution to stop putting off getting what you need. The irritation of making do just isn't worth it.
10) Drop what's not working for you and move on. All products aren't going to be super sellers, all sales methods aren't going to work for everyone, and all suppliers or contractors aren't going to be ideally suited to your business. If a technique or a product or a business relationship isn't working for you, stop using it. Don't invest a lot of energy into trying to make the unworkable workable. Move on. Something better will turn up.
Achieving a healthy work-life balance is like maintaining a good relationship; you have to keep working on it. But if you apply these New Year's resolutions throughout the year, your success is guaranteed!
Sam
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