Leadership Inspiration – Being Unmasked

“Fortune does not change men; it unmasks them.” Susan Necker (1739 – 1794) Swiss hostess

The Big Picture of Business – Business Success Checklist

When you own and operate a business you need to have certain procedures for an efficient and seamless function. Sometimes the difficulty of managing your time makes for a haphazard operation. An inefficient operation results in unproductive activities which often miss the point and worse yet, result in wasted time and wasted resources. One of […]

How to Assess an Online Money-Making Idea

According to Google, in December of 2012, 1.44 million people searched on some variation of the phrase “make money online.” Maybe you even found this blog post by searching for that phrase yourself. If you’re reading this, you’re at least probably interested in it. I’ve been in the business of internet revenue generation for years. […]

Steps Along the Buying Decision Path

As sellers we are taught to find prospects with a need that matches our solution and then find creative, professional ways to pitch, present, entice, push, market, or somehow introduce our solution to enable them to understand how our solutions will fix their problem. Unfortunately, we fail to close over 90% of the time (from […]

Can You Really Turn a Hobby into a Business? part 1 of 3

The whole hobby-to-business proposition is a little misleading—primarily because we need to rethink the word “hobby.” When we hear it, we think of those fun, voluntary pastimes that bring us enjoyment and help us make the most of our free time: reading, collecting stamps, community theatre – they’re all things that we do because we […]

7 Pitfalls to Avoid When Running a Family Business

Entrepreneurship is rarely easy but also having family in the mix can add multiple layers of complexity – barriers and challenges that your competitors may not be burdened with. That said, the unique dynamics of a family-run business can also result in extraordinary success as evidenced by Wal-Mart, BMW, Ford and Tyson – all highly […]

Speaker or Listener: Who’s Responsible For Misunderstandings?

There’s been an age-old argument in the communication field: who’s at fault if a misunderstanding occurs – the Speaker communicating badly, or the Listener misunderstanding? Let’s look at some facts: Speaking is an act of translating what’s going on internally into communication that enables others to understand an intent – choosing the most appropriate words […]

Change management and sales: influencing the buying decision path

Buyers want to solve a problem in a way that causes the least disruption, and the last thing they want to do is bring something new into their environment. But until the stakeholders (decision makers, influencers, appropriate managers) agree that making a purchase is the only way to get where they want to end up, […]

It’s been a long time coming – A new way to change change!

Change is coming. Got fear or joy? Got worry or positive anticipation? Putting your head in the sand, or headed to the beach to relax and plan? When you feel or fear that some form of change is coming, you have to define it in your mind as opportunity. Clear your head for “what will […]

Alexander Throckmorton Comes of Age

On September 25, 2015, Warner Brothers released The Intern: Experience Never Gets Old starring Robert de Niro and Anne Hathaway; written, directed, and produced by Nancy Meyers. The September 2015 edition of Chief Learning Officer Magazine featured an article called Don’t Undervalue Older Workers by Lynn Schroeder. Nancy and Lynn must acknowledge that Edgar Lee […]