The barrier to irresistible growth is not the unstoppable,
uncontrollable external change, but fixed (and frequently
unexamined) ideas of how to respond to those changes.

John Kenneth Galbraith, the late economist, noted that “The
enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march
of events.”  And the tide of expected future change in our
society is now rapid and breathtaking to most — whether we
consider irresistible forces like the advent of the
Knowledge Age (with knowledge doubling in many fields
within a few years, months, or even days), the electronic
improvements in communication choices (the potential number
of ways for you to receive or send a message will continue
to grow rapidly for many more years), shifts in work
activities (from routine fulfilling of standard tasks to
Peter Drucker’s knowledge work) and stability (as a result
of down-sizing and a “free agent” work force),
demographic-driven social changes (ever older populations
in the developed countries and ever younger ones everywhere
else), weather volatility (both in temperatures and
storms), the movements of currencies and markets, social
mores of the moment (fads get shorter and shorter), or
personal styles of the young (differentiating from older
teenagers, not just from adults).

There is no doubt that today the world has become much more
complicated and interconnected. For businesses,
globalization means that the number and distance of
customers, suppliers and competitors have grown
geometrically. Such interconnectedness also means that what
affects one can quickly spread and affect all, like the
rapid expansions of computer and human viruses. These
connections mean that economic and financial adjustments,
especially in prices and currency values, travel faster and
further than before. Your irresistible growth enterprise
must be agile in adapting to these changes. I believe that
making rapid and best use of sudden changes in powerful
conditions no one can control is the key to becoming an
irresistible growth enterprise.

When asked in the 1950s about how much control they had
over their business’s success, U.S. CEOs felt they had a
great deal. By the start of the 1990s, CEOs often felt that
irresistible forces had more impact on the company’s
success then the employees did.

We only have to look at charts measuring events over the
last 100 years to see that the volatility of many
irresistible forces is also growing. In the last 30 years
alone, this volatility has included an unprecedented
success by a commodity cartel (the Arab oil embargo), the
fall of a major government type around the world
(communism), stock prices have experienced unprecedented
growth in the United States and many other countries,
interest rates have fluctuated from over 20 percent to as
low as 2 percent in North America (and more widely
elsewhere), and the advent of the service economy (of
stores and local brokerage offices) was diverted into
creating an information-based economy.

As these examples suggest, the degree and speed of change
are both accelerating. At one time, corporate leaders could
conduct leisurely studies of such changing phenomena after
they began to occur, thoughtfully select the right actions,
and then experiment with the best way to proceed. In many
cases, the time involved to deliberately study its choices
today costs a company its biggest opportunities, and can
even lead to failure.

Consider Barnes & Noble, the leader in physical book
stores.  Before launching its electronic commerce business,
it decided to watch what happened with Amazon.com for a
while as it studied its options.  By the time Barnes &
Noble was ready to act, Amazon.com had built a commanding
electronic lead that will be very difficult to overcome.
Naturally, it is nice to be able to find one trend and ride
it for a long time.  The results can be wonderful.

McDonald’s is one of very few companies that have had this
experience. The company’s premise is based on customers’
desires for dependable, inexpensive food, served quickly
and effectively in convenient clean locations. From its
beginnings as a single hamburger stand in the 1930s in San
Bernardino, California, it has become a global giant today.

But even McDonald’s had to learn eventually to adapt to the
irresistible force of consumer food preferences as it moved
beyond North America. The familiar hamburger, fries and
soft drink menu had to expand to offer curry in England and
a glass of wine in Paris.

Today’s enterprises will find such long-term rides to be
the exception to the rule. Consider how Microsoft flirted
with disaster in the 1990s by missing the early
significance of providing software and services for the
Internet. Intel was originally a memory chip manufacturer,
and shifted into microprocessors as its primary business
somewhat by accident.

The world is full of shuttered stores that failed to meet
customer needs. Their boarded up windows are mute testimony
to the need to shift with the changing trends. Many of the
most significant irresistible forces (such as new
technologies, improved communications, the weather,
demographics, user preferences, and economic conditions)
have grown much more volatile and unpredictable in just the
past five to ten years.  Analysts suggest that this trend
will accelerate due to the “chaos” effects of how a small
change in one place in the world can cause an enormous
change elsewhere.

Simply consider all of the changes that Jack Welch went
through to turn General Electric from a
slow-growing-industrial goods manufacturer into a financial
services powerhouse with high-margin manufacturing
specialties. Any one of these changes would have
overwhelmed most organizations, yet Welch succeeded with
several.

How well the company fares under Welch’s successors will
reveal a lot about the difficulties of continuing as an
irresistible growth enterprise.

This multiplier effect will increasingly happen with all
irresistible forces, and this is the key insight upon which
you must act now. While most organizations will react to
such forces and their changes only when it is impossible
not to (out of self-preservation or fear), the irresistible
growth enterprise will see the creation of broad
unstoppable change, the accurate anticipation of such
changes, and the steady beneficial harnessing of such
changes to achieve its purposes as its primary tasks.

Are you ready?

Copyright 2008 Donald W. Mitchell, All Rights Reserved

—————————————————-
Donald Mitchell is chairman of Mitchell and Company, a
strategy and financial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is
coauthor of seven books including Adventures of an
Optimist, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise, and The
Ultimate Competitive Advantage. You can find free tips for
accomplishing 20 times more by registering at:
====> http://www.2000percentsolution.com .

I used to write down my goals each year, but it never
really worked for me. I just didn’t feel really excited
about my new goals. They didn’t seem to propel me in motion
and so I kind of viewed them as being useless. I never
really looked at them, probably because they seemed like
“shoulds” rather than “really-meaningful-wants.”

Then I came across the concept of creating 3-year visions
instead of just a list of goals for the upcoming year. This
visioning wasn’t just about business goals, but also
family, financial, spiritual, and relationship goals. It
became a “holistic” way of looking at what you wanted in
your life. All the pieces looked like they would work
together, but only because you were compelled to make it
all work together, which was the first time I’d done that
in such depth.

The coolest thing about visioning 3 years out came to me
after I started doing this regularly. I noticed that ONE
year goals were never too much of a stretch. They seemed
like timid goals, goals that didn’t really get me excited.
But having to create a vision of what 3 years down the line
would look like allowed me to REALLY think BIG.

Inhibitions dropped. My creative side started going and I
really took time to see, “Hey, what WOULD I want my life to
look like in 3 years, if I could have time to create it?”
SHAZAM! I felt like I’d hit the jackpot.

The 3-year vision was a way for me to create something to
strive for that REALLY spoke to me. Something that made my
heart beat a little faster after I read it, excited to get
going, and just a little bit scared of the thought of me
reaching it. Now THAT would propel me into motion the way a
yearly list of goals wouldn’t be able to do. (By the way,
my deep down secret is that I strive to reach these in 1 or
2 years, not 3, and that’s usually what happens.)

So, each year, around this time, I create a 3-year vision
of what I want my practice to look like. I write it in the
present tense, as if it were 3 years later, that same day.
For example, this past year I wrote mine on January 4, 2007
as if it was January 4, 2010, and I talked about all the
things that had happened since 2007. All the things I’d
accomplished in my business, with my finances, my
investments, my family, and myself over the “last 3 years,”
which obviously hadn’t actually happened yet.

Such a cool exercise and it really gets the blood flowing
when you read it back to yourself, now and over the year.

“When you can clearly see yourself being there, you can see
much more clearly how to get there. You can imagine the
path to your dreams, and then start to actually walk it.
Play an active role in your own future. Imagine with
passion and detail how you’d most like it to be.”
—Ralph Marston, http://greatday.com

You see, I’ve figured out that it’s not just about goals.
Yes, goals are important, but the way I look at it, it’s
about focusing on what you REALLY want for your life, not
the “shoulds.” It’s also about putting into effect the Law
of Attraction in a big way. When you know what you want for
your life, when you can imagine it with passion and feel
what it feels like to have it, it’s almost guaranteed to
come to you.

So, this weekend, I’ll be taking a couple of hours to work
on my own 3-year vision. I wouldn’t dream of not doing it.
My success depends on it and it does for you too.

YOUR CLIENT ATTRACTION ASSIGNMENT:

Your turn. Sometime this week, create a 3-year vision dated
January 4, 2011. Your 3-year vision must be one that will
literally PULL you into your future, will scare you just a
little bit, and make your heart beat a little faster than
normal whenever you read this.

Make your 3-year vision very specific, realistic, and a big
STRETCH (that’s what’s going to move you forward quicker
than you would if you didn’t have it). If you’re right
brained, use bullet points for categories such as business,
finances, personal, family, spiritual, fun, health, etc. If
you’re left-brained, then write freely, and remember to
keep it all grounded in the specific, with lots of
MEASURABLES and TANGIBLES thrown in there so you can keep
track of your progress over the next 3 years (that’s what I
do).

Be sure to write in the present tense as if it were 3 years
from now… If it doesn’t scare you just a little bit or
get your mind racing, then it’s probably not enough of a
stretch. By the way, I just looked back to last year’s
3-year vision and I was SHOCKED to see how many of the
goals in my 3-year vision I’d already achieved in just a
little over a year. This stuff really works!!

—————————————————-
Once you’ve done your 3-year vision and are ready to get
marketing in a big way for 2008, invest in your success by
getting yourself the Client Attraction Home Study
System™. It’s all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of
things. So, you do step one of the system, and when you’re
done with that, you move on to step two, and so on.   You
can get it at http://www.TheClientAttractionSystem.com .

Below are 5 quick ways to slow down the leaks in the money leaving your company so the money coming in can catch up

Bill Promptly. Ever find yourself so busy building your business and making deadlines that you don’t get around to billing on a regular basis? You’re not alone. In a consulting business I once owned, I often got so busy that every once in a while I forgot to have the invoices sent out until I realized I wouldn’t have the money for the next payroll. Seems like a stupid mistake, but it’s something that happens.

If you don’t already have a system in place, start (or assign an employee to start) billing for projects on a regular basis. When taking on longer-term projects or clients, negotiate in advance for regular payments based on time or upon reaching milestones instead of allowing the amount due to build up until completion of a contract.

Create Incentives for Faster Payments. Small businesses can sometimes significantly cut the time spent waiting for payment by offering a discount for quick payment. I have used this technique when necessary and have also been asked by customers if I offered that type of discount.

Basically I offered discounts of 1% or 2% for payment within 10 days. It is good for your bottom line and good for the business’s cash flow, too. The real bonus is that the customer thinks you are doing them a favor whether they choose to make the early payment or not.

Avoid Slow Pay/No Pay Customers- The best way to avoid cash flow problems because of customers or businesses not paying you is to weed out those slow pays/no pays before they become clients. So if someone is about to become a significant client or customer, do your homework.

Ask for, and check out, credit references. Call other businesses that have had a relationship with the client. You might even pay for a credit check from an organization such as Experian or Dun & Bradstreet.

Consider Consolidating Your Loans. I know it’s often tough for small businesses to borrow money. It’s also surprising how some small businesses manage to get multiple loans.

If you have several loans related to your business, review the rates and terms on each one. You may be able to consolidate two or more loans into a lower-interest account and improve your cash flow.

Trim Your Inventory. If you can’t go to a “just-in-time” inventory management system like many manufacturers have adopted then how about “just-in-less-time”? Money spent on over stocked inventory is money that isn’t producing any interest or savings for you.

Here’s an interesting notion: Do you realize that there are mistakes you can make at various stages of your business’ growth that can be slowly killing it for months or even years if you don’t watch for them?

Well, these mistakes do exist and they are not just reserved for the rookie companies. Many working businesses, including those you might think are “successful” because they’ve been around for 10+ years, are often still making them… and are possibly losing a lot of money and/or wasting a lot of time in the process.

Although some of these big and sneaky mistakes seem aimed more at service type companies, they really do fit the bill for almost any type of industry. I’ve done my best with the listings below to give examples to prove it.

Underestimating Project/Service Time- This is a big one and it pertains to service companies as well as companies that sell a product. This is a service company’s bread and butter.

If you don’t estimate your time to perform each and every service in your repertoire, you will get burned and there is little you can do about it but bite the bullet and learn from it. The best way to estimate time is to do it once yourself or watch your best employee do the task and then throw in a little fudge factor on top of it. For product companies, time becomes an issue with logistics so be aware!

Not Knowing YOUR Company Numbers/Incorrectly Setting Prices- Notice I emphasized the word “your”. It’s a common mistake to use a competitor’s as your pricing gauge without actually knowing why they use those numbers. Think about the nightmare you will get yourself into if you take a competitor’s price, cut it by 10% and then start selling.

What if the competition has a bad pricing structure and is barely making money or even losing money?!?! What if your costs are more than theirs?!?! You can use competitor as a starting point but you can’t base your whole strategy on it.

Different industries have their own variables as far as costs go and you need to be aware of them for your project or product pricing. What you pay for a product you are going to sell is not the only cost to have in your head when you are pricing products. How much your labor and materials cost for a service is only a piece of an hourly rate. Employees cost more than just salary and not every employee is part of your labor cost.

Every company has insurance to pay for. There are tons of overhead expenditures that need to be part of your price. Oh, by the way, the big one that many people forget about in their price is the quality factor. What you include as “standard services” or “standard product features” as well as job site etiquette or in store service or warranties all need to go into your pricing. I’ll get to more on why in the next segment.

Not Charging for All of Your Time & Costs- This seems like a stupid statement to some but I bet most business owners will admit that they have given away a little too much of the farm at times. Hey, there is nothing wrong with giving a little extra here and there to show you care. But either way, that’s not what I’m talking about here.

What concerns me are those that put a lot of quality into their work or products or stores and do not cover the cost for it. As an example, say you run a service company and your competitors don’t do a certain standard service that you do. You can’t just undercut their price to steal a job; you need to have that cost covered in your rate and advertise the fact that it comes with the price upfront. Stores undermine themselves, for example, when they put more people on the floor for customer service but don’t charge for it.

These things cost you money and when your competitors don’t do them it costs them less money. Put out better service and then under price them, and your competition just has to wait a little bit for you to fall on your face so they can swoop back in.

As a business owner you need to believe that you are providing your clients worthwhile wares that deserve to be paid for. If you get the chance to explain why your prices are higher, then take that opportunity and do it. If they don’t like the fact that you include things that others charge extra for later or that you treat them better, then they are most likely completely price shoppers. You don’t want them as regular customers anyway. Trust me.

Not Getting Paid Fast Enough- That’s right, the old cash flow issue. As long as you are actually making enough money to pay the bills, this problem can be solved, prevented or at least made to be not as bad as it could be. Here’s the deal:

First off all, bill customers very promptly. It is very common for a small business to not have the procedures or systems in place to get invoices generated and out the door in a timely fashion (see the next segment for more).

Again, this would seem unlikely since that’s the reason why we are doing the work- to get paid. But it is very easy for the people responsible for getting this info to the billing people to be too busy to get it there or not have enough organization to give it to them the right way.

The second part to slowing down or stopping a regular cash flow crunch is to make the quickest payment deals possible with customers and the slowest possible with vendors and employees. If there is any way not to pay employees any more than twice a month, you better do it. Contractors always have an issue with this.

If you must pay weekly, then tell them before they are hired that they will be getting the first week held back, essentially buying you a week. It will help, I promise.

Part three involves credit. If your company can get a credit card, then get it. This allows for certain important things to be bought (that you can afford) that might come up during a cash flow crunch.

Better yet, especially if you have no choice but to deal with 45+ day customer payments, do your best to get a company line of credit. This is a must if you plan on selling to the government or doing commercial service work. These clients often have 60 to 90 day wait periods.

Failure to Have Solid Systems and Procedures in Place- Too many procedures (known as “red tape”) is the reason why many people start their own business in the first place. Unfortunately, having no procedures and systems in place at all is not an alternative. Depending on the type of industry, business owners must come to a happy medium or chaos and the unknown will ensue.

Some basic examples where procedures or systems are needed include billing, collections, payroll, hr (interviewing, hiring, vacations, benefits, job responsibilities, etc.), manufacturing, operating equipment, maintaining equipment, inventory, sales calls/visits and logistics to name a few.

Even a one person show needs to have some admin procedures in place. This will make it easier to hire temps and subcontractors and control what they are doing for you. Without at least a watered down version of a system or procedure to do everyday work, you will be to blame for causing many major headaches as your company grows.

I can’t emphasize how important this is for when you bring on new employees. I’m sure you heard this before, but I am also a big proponent of having an employee handbook even for one employee. It’s amazing the trouble people can cause business owners just because they allow you to pay them.

Spending Advertising Money Just to Say You Advertise- I would almost rather see my clients not advertise then to spend without regard to tracking the results. There is no point in a marketing campaign if you do not put things in place that allow you to measure how well the plan is working.

The other wasteful part of marketing that many people make the mistake of doing, is not tracking their previously successful campaigns. Why some people think that just because a $400 dollar a month ad worked once very well for one busy season, that it will automatically work every year after that is beyond me.

Spreading Yourself Too Thin- This is a classic mistake made by every entrepreneur. The key is to figure out when you are at that “wearing too many hats” point and start getting some help. The solution here is to know your strengths and to be able see when you are not performing the duties that demand these skills.

If you are the best sales person on the company, you can’t get caught up in day-to-day operations. If you do, sales will slip and eventually you won’t have any operations to worry about. Think about this to help you figure out if you are spread too thin: Did you really go into business for yourself to work 80+ hours a week?

Not Getting Help Soon Enough- Set goals to know when to hire people to take over where you are light on knowledge. Not getting help or waiting too long can kill a company. Most people who start a business do it because they are good at the technical end or the sales end.

If you know the best way to make a widget, then your strength is in production and that is where your time should be spent. Hire an outside company or consultant to take care of the sales and marketing and then hire inside when you can afford someone full time. Don’t be something to your company that you are not. It will only hold you back.

The three big issues people like to tackle themselves but usually are least knowledgeable about are legal issues, accounting/bookkeeping issues and daily operations issues. The odds are that these three things are your weakest link so if you don’t have a partner that has the background for these subjects, then be prepared to get help as soon as possible. It’s preferable that you do this before you start a business.

Although looking for these problems at any time is a good idea, the end of a year or season is an excellent business interval to make sure you are not making these errors. Take the time, or make the time, to fix these problems. If you don’t know how to reverse the problems, then get some help. If you really don’t have enough time to either figure out if you have these issues or know they are there and can’t break away long enough to do it right, then get some help.

Today, more and more people are harnessing the power of the
Mastermind Group to help them think bigger. This concept
can be applied to business, social causes, politics,
relationships, health, and artistic endeavors. Combining
the abilities of multiple individuals to solve problems,
brainstorm ideas, seek solutions, and develop strategies
creates greater results than going it alone as a “lone
ranger.”

The size of a Mastermind can range from two to eight
members. Any more than that can get chaotic. The group can
meet in person if they are in a similar geographic
location. Or if the Masterminders live in different states
or countries, they can also meet via a bridge line. The
members of the group make a commitment to show up regularly
and to contribute to each others’ success.

The types of groups can be as varied as your imagination.
However, compatibility is vital to the success of the
group. Members should have similar interests and/or should
be at a similar “level.” For example, participants can be
in a similar area of business like realtors or life
coaches. Or the group’s members can have a common goal like
writing a book, building an Internet subscriber list, or
losing 30 pounds.

In this way, stronger bonds are formed and the group
creates win-win situations for all of its members. When
selecting members, only invite participants who have a
strong desire to succeed and a demonstrated ability to
contribute. Your group will be the most successful when you
have members who are passionate about Masterminding.

If you want to start your own Mastermind Group, here are
some guidelines:

1) Define the purpose to the group: What will your
objectives be when you meet? What do you want to accomplish
together? For instance a Mastermind of college students
could set a goal of academic excellence.

2) Decide on the groups’ ground rules: What is acceptable?
And how will the ground rules be enforced? One of the
groups was extremely committed to attendance and promptness
- we decided that if a person was late showing up for a
call, he or she paid $1 per minute to your charity of
choice. Miss the whole meeting and it was $60.

3) Determine the structure of the groups’ time together:
You can have an agenda and a facilitator. Or, you can
rotate leadership. You can have freely-flowing
conversation. You can also decide to have closely monitored
time frames for each person to speak.

4) Plan the groups’ logistics: Where, how often, and how
long will you meet? When will your group start and when
will it be completed? For instance, one of my Mastermind
groups met every week for one hour for a period of four
months.

5) State wants and needs: Mastermind groups can only reach
their full potential if each member is willing to think big
and ask powerful questions. At your meetings, each
Mastermind group member can tell the group exactly what he
or she wants – the member does not have to know how it will
be accomplished. Case in point, a group member might start
off – “This is Jane. I am facing a problem in my business
[describe] and I need the group’s ideas on how to solve
it.” Another group member might say, “This is Tyler. I want
the group to help me develop a strategy to make me an
additional $100,000 in my consulting business this year.”

6) Commit to contributing: Your Mastermind group’s success
depends on you. Make a commitment to listen carefully, be
present, show up on time, and fully support your fellow
Masterminders. In this way, you exponentially increase the
groups’ synergy and other members will rise to your level
of contribution.

Being a part of a successful Mastermind group is an
enriching experience that will accelerate you
professionally and personally in ways you can’t imagine.
You don’t have to be a lone ranger and you don’t have to
figure things out on your own. So, don’t wait to start or
join one!

—————————————————-
Wendy Maynard of GoMarketingMaven.com created the Maven
Marketing System specifically for small business owners,
coaches, consultants, and solo-preneurs. She also publishes
a free weekly marketing ezine. Subscribe at
http://www.gomarketingmaven.com/ezine_3.html

Organizations develop their mind-sets through rules,
processes, and rituals, as well as through the mind-sets of
those who work in them. The fewer people who enter an
organization, the more likely the organizational mind-set
is to become fixed.

The Individual Stall Mind-Set

Are you awake, aware of, and working on what you want to
accomplish … or are you usually daydreaming? It’s easy to
spend most of your day with your conscious mind turned off
while you endure your commute, struggle to stay awake
during meetings, listen to long-winded people on the
telephone, exercise, perform routine chores, and watch
television. The focus for your whole mind starts in the
conscious part of your brain. Keep that conscious focus
turned off, and the whole brain runs on automatic
instructions.

Overcoming that lethargy is pretty easy. Take these steps:

1. Create written goals for what’s important.

2. Read those goals aloud twice a day.

3. Write out plans to help you accomplish your goals.

4. Increase the number of hours a day when you are
consciously working on those goals.

5. Tell others what you want to accomplish and ask for
their help.

6. Check your progress daily against your goals to identify
where you need to  shift to doing something more effective.

7. Get help in looking for ways to improve in those lagging
areas.

8. Put improvements in place as soon as you can.

Some people tell us they don’t have the time to add any new
activities. We suggest you check out that belief. Write
down everything you do and when over 24 hours a day for 14
days. Add up elapsed time totals for each category (such as
spiritual activities, sleeping, eating, commuting, various
aspects of work, activities around home and in the
community, exercise, and recreation). Then create an ideal
time allocation for how you would like to spend your time.
If you are like most people who do this exercise, you’ll
find that you can shift 25 hours each week from what you do
now into things you would like to be doing.

At this stage, some people are still confused about what to
do. They don’t see a role model or example that seems to
perfectly fit what they would like to be doing. Relax.
That’s a good sign! It means that a lot of people are
stalled in pursuing what you want to do. So there’s lots of
untapped potential for you to grasp. Try selecting some
ideas for improvement from one person’s example and other
ideas from a different example. Put the combination
together in a new way and try it out in a low-risk test.
Many such tests won’t work, but the ones that do will cause
you to zoom forward.

The Organizational Stall Mind-Set

Since the advent of military organizations, the goal of
many groups has been to focus and direct each person’s
attention to a narrow, predictable path. Since
communication used to be almost impossible in large
organizations, there was little choice but to try to do
little in order to accomplish anything. Such groups are now
called command-and-control-style organizations.

Today’s fast-changing world is filled with much better
educated people and more ways to communicate, so
organizations can aspire to be very responsive by having
those who first notice a problem or opportunity move
quickly to take appropriate action. This works better if
each individual knows that this should be done and develops
her or his ability to notice problems and opportunities and
to take appropriate, timely action.

Too often, however, the habits of command and control are
carried over intentionally or unintentionally into a
free-form world that most closely resembles a fast-break
opportunity in basketball. Here are some examples of
progress barriers created by command-and-control stalls:

• Meetings that focus on permanently fixed agendas drive
out time and initiative that could be used to work on more
important, but unperceived, issues.

• Compensation systems that reward you for doing only part
of your job     encourage you to ignore what else needs to
be done.

• Lacking a focus on learning, many organizations spin
their wheels by      superficially reexamining areas that
have been studied to death by predecessors.

• Rigid protocol often requires that you cannot speak
directly with your      counterpart in another part of the
organization, leaving your efforts isolated and
ineffective.

• Decision makers live in isolated bunkers with lots of
guards around to keep     others away, leaving decisions in
limbo.

Become a Stallbuster

You now have a better idea of what a stall is. You may
doubt that human beings can change mind-sets and become
vastly more productive in short periods of time. But such
quick changes may be easier than you think. “Necessity is
the mother of invention” is a motto that applies to
successfully dealing with crises. A big challenge can also
cause that motto to come to life.

Stallbusters

Be Aware of Your Habits

Most people are better at identifying others’ habits than
noticing their own. Ask others to tell you what habits they
see in you. Then keep a diary to see which of those habits
are done without much conscious thought. Next review what
you have learned and think about the patterns. When would
you have been better off changing the patterns?

Be Aware of Your Organization’s Habits

For the next week, write down everything that your
organization does without much thought. Pay particular
attention to how problems are addressed. Consider the
habitual items on your list and ask yourself the following
questions:

• Why are these things done?

• What is the benefit?

• When are these habits harmful?

• When might these habits stall progress?

• How should the habits be changed?

• Does the organization have an effective method for making
the changes?

Be Aware of How the Habits of Others in Your Organization
Affect You

Many ambitious employees soon begin to sound, look, and
think like the CEO ― down to the tiniest variation in
cadence and phrase. The more you think about habits, the
more you will notice them and create the needed
adjustments. Answer the following questions to gain
perspective:

• What habits do people in your company pick up from the
CEO?

• What are the benefits?

• When are these habits harmful?

• When might these habits stall progress?

• How should these habits be changed?

It’s a good idea to repeat this investigation for other
leaders who serve between the CEO and the bulk of those who
work for the organization.

Be Aware of How Your Habits Affect Others in Your
Organization

Habits can come from being with anyone. In fact, you are
creating quite a few habits in others through your actions.
Because you are the source, such habits will be easier to
change than the others we describe in this section. To
increase your awareness, ask yourself the following
questions:

• What habits do people in your company pick up from you?

• What are the benefits?

• When are these habits harmful?

• When might these habits stall progress?

• How should these habits be changed?

Practice Soaring Like an Eagle

Most impassable barriers to progress occur only in the
mind. In reality, there is usually a way around (over,
through, or away from) the barriers that will work just
fine. To improve in seeing past your habitual ways of
thinking and acting, you need success in doing something
that seems impossible. An example might be to sell more of
your company’s products at a higher price with less
marketing and to enjoy a higher profit margin. Pick such a
business objective that’s way beyond what anyone thinks is
possible and then address the following questions:

What would have to happen for this result to be possible?

If your organization had all of the resources and time in
the world, could it be      done?

How much would it be worth to accomplish this objective?

How much can your organization realistically afford to
spend to reach the      objective?

Do other people see this objective as being impossible, or,
rather, do they see it  as difficult or inconvenient?

Assuming for the moment that you could know how to reach
the seemingly  impossible objective (such as selling  more
of your company’s products at a  higher price with less
marketing while earning a higher profit margin), what is
the answer to the seemingly impossible objective?

Copyright 2007 Donald W. Mitchell All Rights Reserved

—————————————————-
Donald Mitchell is chairman of Mitchell and Company, a
strategy and financial consulting firm in Weston, MA. He is
coauthor of six books including The 2,000 Percent Squared
Solution, The 2,000 Percent Solution, The Portable 2,000
Percent Solution, and The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook.
You can read about his work on improving effectiveness at:
http://www.2000percentsolution.com .

We’ve all seen examples of software programs — even from
well-known, respectable software companies — that arrive
on our desktops barely breathing. They seem to be full of
bugs, and thereby cause us more grief than they help us
carry out work. Or we try to use a Web site that looks
great, but we can’t get from the shopping cart to the order
page. Or we buy a new widget, yet even using the
instruction booklet, we can’t jump from the main menu to
the critical functions the way we’re supposed to.

Are you anxious to catapult your business into the ranks of
companies that frustrate their customers this way?

Of course not! Therefore, I’m confident that you will do
things differently.

That’s why testing involves such a systematic, tedious, yet
indispensable sequence of activities. Without a method to
the madness, you’re not doing anything more than randomly
banging on the system to see if by chance you can find a
way to break it. So, what do you need to know to properly
estimate the effort, carry out the process, and keep the
testers happy? Here are 10 strategies for achieving testing
success.

1. Design test scenarios.

What’s a “test scenario”? Each test scenario should be
mirror image of a “use scenario” that’s been guiding a team
to design and develop the system. A use scenario describes
one typical interaction a customer has with the system. For
instance, for an automated teller machine, one scenario
involves a customer inserting a card in order to withdraw
some cash. In another scenario, a customer makes a deposit.
In another, he or she checks the balance.

Scenarios must represent any plausible ways in which users
could interact with the system, including unusual and
unintended actions. So both use scenarios and test
scenarios should account for possible error conditions such
as jammed cards, cancelled transactions, or overdrawn
accounts.

2. Write a test procedure.

A test procedure specifies how testers will exercise the
test scenarios, including the order to follow. In the ATM
example, it might say, “Test withdrawing cash denominations
in this order: $20, $30, $50, $100. Run another test in
reverse order: $100, $50, $30, $20. Then run several tests
in random order.” It should also explain what results to
expect in each case.

You’ll want the procedure to test all new system features
or changes. You’ll also want the procedure to test features
in various combinations. For example, you might specify 1)
withdrawing cash, then 2) checking balance information, and
then 3) making a deposit. Be sure to vary the order, and
test error conditions.

3. Determine what data you need.

If your system stores values in a database, you’ll need to
load some typical data to test the scenarios. In the ATM
example, values would include account balances — for
testing withdrawal limits and giving balance information.
Create the sample data sets and pre-load the systems to be
tested. Don’t forget to include extremely high and low
values!

4. Plan specific roles for testers.

Schedule each tester to focus on specific test scenarios
and related data sets. If there are enough testers, assign
more than one to cover each test scenario. Each person will
approach it differently.

5. Create a bug reporting system.

It could be designed as a form, a database, an e-mail
message, or a combination. Have testers submit bug reports
as they find errors in each round of testing.

6. Establish a test schedule.

The schedule should allow for several iterations of beta
testing. Be sure to clear the schedules of testers for each
round in which they will be participating.

7. Get all materials ready for testing.

The following items should be ready for the kickoff
meeting: A new or updated system, lists or descriptions of
any bugs fixed,  new or updated documentation, test
scenarios and procedures, and so on.

8. Set a start date.

On the start date, hold a kickoff meeting! Also schedule
progress checks. If testers find numerous bugs — or
especially critical ones — before reaching a given
checkpoint, stop testing, fix the bugs and/or
documentation, and return to Step 1. Ask before restarting:
Are new test scenarios or data sets needed?

9. Perform a new round of testing for each new test
baseline.

This means starting the complete test from scratch after
each round of fixes. You can’t sidestep this requirement,
because each time something is fixed, it can “break”
something else. Stop the cycles of testing only when no new
bugs are evident.

10. Plan a reward for a job well done.

Testing is very tedious — so testers need a special
incentive to keep them focused on the goal. Although
they’re helping to produce a high-quality system, a
post-testing party never hurts morale!

Thorough beta testing is essential for producing quality
systems. If you discover errors you can’t fix in time, you
could decide to release a system with known defects
(documented in your “Read-me” notes). The stakes can be
high, so weigh this option carefully before proceeding.

—————————————————-
Adele Sommers, Ph.D. is the creator of the “Straight Talk
on Boosting Business Performance” success formula. To learn
more about her tools and resources and sign up for other
free tips like these, visit her site at
http://LearnShareProsper.com

The corporate world knows the value of taking time out for
a step back, taking time to assess what is going right,
what is going wrong and what just plain isn’t going
anywhere. As a business owner (or as one who dreams of
owning a business), it is critical to take time out to plan
for the upcoming time period, be it a year, or even a
long-term goal. Otherwise, how can you get where you want
to be if you don’t know where that is? I usually plan two
business retreats per year:

~ One in late summer — it’s late enough in the current
year to have a good idea of how the year is progressing and
yet still have enough time to make changes if necessary.

~ One over the holidays just before New Year’s — this
saves me from also doing New Year’s resolutions. 

As part of my “New Year Retreat”, I pick one word around
which to focus the year.  This makes it much easier to plan
the year and every choice, every decision is first weighed
against “the word”.  If the outcome furthers my journey in
reaching the word, I do it.  If it doesn’t, I don’t.  Past
words have included “freedom” (from a corporate job that
sucked the life out of me), “stability” (financial,
emotional, new business) and even “romance” (and now I have
my darling hubby).

I centered my word for 2007 on some poster board, cut out
pictures of what it represents to me and hung it up in my
office.  I’m now ready to build my plan.

I take a few critical tools and go somewhere alone for a
few days (or lock myself away in the house) where I can sit
and reflect on my business as a business, its successes and
opportunities. In order to have a successful business
retreat:

1. Bring your financial records…in whatever form they
exist. I use QuickBooks to track my finances – it allows me
to track my income and expenses by any number of categories
and dates. With the click of a few buttons, I can tell when
my peak times of year are, what products and services bring
in the most income (and how that changes seasonally) and
what my expenses are.

I used to figure out how much money I had (or would have
based on an estimate) and then what to do with it.  No
longer.  I now use the technique found in “How to Make
Money as a Service Professional” to figure my billable time.

If your financial records are a mess, now is the time to
straighten them out. If you can’t do it yourself, get help,
this is one area that you can’t skip! You need to know
where you are now in order to effectively plan for the
future.  If you need assistance, check out the article on
my blog on “How to Hire a Bookkeeper”.

2. Bring a calendar. Personally, I use a large
write-on/wipe off wall calendar so I can see the whole year
at a glance. This allows me to easily see what I’ve
planned. I also use colored stickers to label different
types of days: profit generating, business building,
vacation and holidays. This allows me to know what’s
planned on any given day. It’s not easy…it takes time and
effort to know where I want to be 12 months from now, so I
start with some basics.

* Holidays…I take the major ones off.

* Vacations…I am planning several long spa/yoga weekends
and at least one week away with my hubby.

* Business Building…I’m meeting with my Mastermind group
in Los Angeles in February and attending a Dan Kennedy
seminar in October. There are a couple of other conferences
I’m toying with and they will be tentatively marked on the
calendar.

* Profit generating…these are the days that I’m working
on activities that make money for my business: client
coaching, online business management, etc.

3. Bring all those scraps of paper or notebook in which you
wrote down ideas for your business and things that you want
to do. Record them in one central place; I call mine my
“Dream Notebook” – it’s actually a sketching notebook with
a gorgeous picture of the beach on the front cover. If you
have a laptop, bring it. . .otherwise a notebook and
calculator will do just fine. Use this list as the starting
point of where you want to go, what you want to do and,
equally important, what you don’t want to do in the
upcoming year.

4. Break it down into small segments…after determining
where I want my business to go over the next year (month,
quarter, etc.), I break down the larger goals into
quarterly objectives and then into monthly objectives, etc.
This takes the “big picture” and makes it more manageable
as I can get my arm around quarterly and monthly (and then
weekly) objectives much easier than I can the entire year,
and it won’t seem as daunting if you plan to take smaller
steps toward a larger goal.

5. Relax and remember that you started your own business to
do what you love, to focus on those things that bring you
joy and also…to make money to allow you to continue to do
the things you enjoy. Keep this in mind as you plan and
remember to plan some time for yourself away from the
business – we all need this to keep things fresh and
exciting!

It is critical that you take the time to plan what you want
your business to be like. You don’t need to do something
just because “you always do it” or because “you’re good at
it” – focus on those things that you enjoy doing!

You’ll be much happier and productive – after all, you
didn’t go into business for yourself to feel pressured or
dislike what you’re doing!

—————————————————-
Online Business Coach & Entrepreneur, Sandra Martini
teaches small business owners how to create more success in
their business while maintaining their sanity and having
fun. Sandra’s coaching programs are available via
teleconferencing, emails and telephone calls. For more
information and to receive the FREE special report, “7
Wealth-Building Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs”, go to
http://www.Online-Biz-Coach.com .