Why Legislating Behavior Never Works
Earlier this year, the New York Times posted a story about the goal for California to remotely control thermostats in homes.
In concept, I can understand the reason why the energy commission would back a proposal like this.
Reducing individual customers’ electrical use — if necessary, involuntarily — could avoid that, Dr. Rosenfeld (California Energy Commission member) said. “If you can control rotating outages by letting everyone in the state share the pain,” he said, “there’s a lot less pain to go around.”
Forget about the security implications for a moment and look at the practicality of this. Take a look at what really is going to happen in the construction world should this law pass. continue reading...
The Challenge of Using Social Media for Business
More and more people are trying to use social media for business. The problem with using social media for business is that social media is, first and foremost, social. You will find that because of the social nature of social media, people want to be personal.
Three of the best examples of where social media can be a challenge for business are Facebook, Twitter and Friendfeed. These are great examples because they provide an environment that fosters conversations.
The fact is, people need to be personal. If they don’t put a human face on their activities, others will simply look at them as a spamming entity and will tune them out very quickly.
That social aspect of using social media for business brings a challenge that most people overlook. continue reading...
Could a Wal-Mart Bailout Be Next?
Let’s put forth the assumption that Wal-Mart is not showing growth like it is right now. Never mind the thought that when we see holiday shopping numbers they often will show numbers without Wal-Mart because Wal-Mart is doing so well.
We know they have more revenue than Saudi Arabia or more revenue than Apple, Google, Target and Microsoft combined. source
Let’s assume for a moment that Wal-Mart Executives were on Capital Hill asking for a $34 Billion Dollar “loan” with the statement that “they needed an immediate infusion of government cash to last until New Year's, and both said they could drag the entire industry down if they fail.” source
What would happen if Wal-Mart decided to ask for a “bailout” or a “loan?” Do you think that anyone would even entertain the thought?
Think about it this way. continue reading...
It’s Hard to Be Nice When People Make So Many Mistakes
You have no doubt found yourself in a situation that you have been told you made a mistake. You were given a list of instructions and you missed something. You forgot something. You simply didn’t complete something properly.
When you know that you made a mistake, it can be a disappointment for you because you probably intended to do it right.
In some (or most) cases, the mistake isn’t devastating. In many (hopefully most) cases, the over site or omission was not intentional.
Quite often, the real problem is that the instructions were simply not very clear.
Think about how you respond to your errors being pointed out as you read this. continue reading...
How to grow your business in a down market
As my businesses is growing… double digit growth every couple of months… I am often asked what am I doing that really sets me apart from other organizations? How are we increasing our business when others are failing? Why am I able to hire new employees when others are required to downsize?
How is it that my business is growing when the economy is “so bad?” I know that my company isn’t the only one that is doing well.
Certainly, in one blog post, I won’t be able to tell all the reasons why our little company is seeing so much success, but there are some things that you can do right now (or start doing right now) that will have meaningful, positive impact on your bottom line.
Here are the top three things that we have focused on that have made all the difference to us. continue reading...
Check Your Pride At The Door
Business leaders are the reason why businesses fail. Here is my example.
But, the question you might ask is, “Why?”
I’m glad you asked.
I meet with business leaders on a regular basis that have been very successful in the past, but with the down turn in the economy, their businesses are really struggling. Sales are down. Revenues are down. Profits are down. Productivity is down.
I am amazed at how many businesses are really having a hard time right now. Especially when my business is up. Business is so great that we just brought on a new employee and are looking for another.
So, how does a business leader ensure the success of the business in any market… whether the market is up or down? continue reading...
A Status Report Doesn’t Give You All The Right Information
If you really want to understand the status of your business and how your employees are doing, you need to get away from relying on scheduled status reports. That doesn't mean to away with them, it means to not rely solely on them.
A scheduled status report is something that you ask for at regular intervals. This might be a sales report or a time sheet. The regularly scheduled status report has an opportunity for an employee to prep only the components that he or she knows you’ll be checking. It is like teaching a student how to prepare for a test. It is good to be done and often necessary, but it doesn’t show you anything beyond a certain predefined knowledge set.
So, how do we get the real pulse on how things are going in our business? continue reading...
Do Your Collection Policies Ruin Your Brand?
Earlier in the year, our van met with an untimely demise. We had just signed up with Farmer’s insurance a week before and they were great. We were very pleased with how they handled it (our insurance rates weren’t too happy, though).
About the same time, we returned our truck on lease end. Both vehicles were leased through Chrysler Financial.
The problem came when Chrysler Financial couldn’t get things right on the final payment. This is an amazing story that anyone should understand if you have to collect on any debt. I am going to tell this story in the form of what lessons should be learned. continue reading...
Businesses Don’t Fail Because of the Economy
People complain about the economy. People say that, “because of the economy businesses will fail.”
The evidence used to back this up are the high numbers of layoffs that companies make or lower of stock prices. In some cases, hundreds of people are laid off at a time. In some cases thousands at a time. Sometimes stocks plummet.
I argue that the economy isn’t the problem.
I argue that the real problem is business decisions. Business leaders make poor business decisions because they don’t understand their customers, don’t understand their vendors or just plain don’t understand their own business.
Let me give you an example that supports this. continue reading...
Are You Really a Business Owner?
Self-employed has many different meanings to many different people. Usually, people say they are self-employed when they are free lancers or run a very small company (usually with 1 or 2 full-time equivalent employees).
If you are a small business owner, I want you to think for a moment how you define yourself. Think for a moment about the question, “What do you do to earn a living?”
How do you answer that questions? Do you tell people that you are a freelancer, that you are self-employed or that the company you run employs you?
Does it really matter? I think it does.
Let’s first define the terms. I am going to over simplify them because the full definition isn’t what is important, but the marketing message behind them. continue reading...
