From Tempest to Treasure: Plan, Launch, and Rebuild Business Now!
Disruption creates opportunities. In the wake of the storm lie possibilities for new ventures and new markets. Discover and capitalize on these.
Strategic Planning: Act Now and Jumpstart Business in 2019
If you expect to jumpstart business in the new year, you have the next three weeks, period, to plan and strategize. But it’s barely November, you’re thinking; there’s plenty of time for strategic planning. Right? Wrong. In 21 days we will be knee-deep in Thanksgiving festivities. Depending on your traditions, this may mean massive grocery…
Business Insights From the World of Opera
Business insights can come from anywhere, so let’s take a look at what business can learn from the world of opera. I recently had the opportunity to watch an opera master class conducted by Matthew Polenzani, a world-renowned tenor and thoroughly fascinating instructor and speaker. The students performing were advanced, with strong voices and significant…
Tell Your Stories, Build Your Business!
What are your stories, and how can you use them to build your business? We all have stories. You have your successes and the abysmal failures, your origin stories and funny anecdotes. Stories are the vehicles of emotion – joy, sorrow, anger, commitment and more. Emotion builds connection, connection builds relationships and relationships can build…
Six Tips for Building Relationships and Building Sales
Directly or indirectly, solid relationships are a driving force in building sales. As consumers, we ask our friends and neighbors for vendors they recommend, with whom they have had a successful relationship. Word-of-mouth advertising is huge. Alternatively, we often gravitate to those vendors with whom we have had personal contact. The successful vendor might be…
6 Tips for Implementing a Breakthrough Idea
Implementing a breakthrough idea can be the pinnacle of achievement, or the train wreck of the century. You’ve explored and analyzed, checked the marketplace and competition, pulled ideas from other industries and thought way out of the box. Or perhaps a bolt of lightning struck you with a transcendent “Wow!” moment during your morning shower.…
Creating New Products and Finding New Ideas: 5 Quick Tips
What is the trick? How adept are you at creating new products and finding new ideas? Nothing is more dead than yesterday’s hot item. Customers are attracted to novelty. The blockbuster movie premiere, the newest restaurant on the block or the latest viral dance craze capture the media and lock in our attention. Technology, interests…
Building a Business with FACTS
Building a business is like riding a rollercoaster. There are times of anticipation as you climb slowly to the top, and times of thrilling swoops and turns. There are also times of sheer terror, when you’re certain the cars are headed off the track and you are doomed to plummet to earth in a final…
Is Your Corporate Culture Toxic?
How healthy is your corporate culture? Are you sure? What do your employees really think and say in private? From a management perspective, things can look great. Work gets done and employees are diligent. But is this because of your organization and leadership, or in spite of it? Corporate culture and morale rest solely on…
5 Key Questions to Jumpstart Strategic Planning
The fourth quarter is here, fall is in the air, and in the business world, it’s time to jumpstart strategic planning for the new year. Do not permit yourself to be lulled into complacency. Yes, the weather is still balmy at times, and yes, the trees still hold some fall color. But year end is…