Do Business Well

It’s almost Meeting Failure-Proof

Keep in mind that most meetings aren’t very effective as they are now run. When you get a chance to facilitate or record, it will be because your group has agreed that it is worth trying something new. You are probably going to look good no matter what you do. The mere presence of a facilitator, recorder, and group memory will do wonders. Even if you think you have done a lousy job, your group may well be impressed just because it will all be so new. Explain that you are learning and will make mistakes. Ask people to help you stay in your role and remain neutral. You are there to help them. It’s their meeting and they share the responsibility for making it a success. Continue Reading »

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The degree to which your areas of thinking, feeling and behaviour are not in harmony is in direct proportion to your ability to attract what you really want. This means examining the attitudes that you knowingly, and unknowingly, hold about your life.

Your attitudes are expressions of the way you think, the very frames of reference you have constructed to support your world. It follows that if matter is thought made concrete, then your thoughts are the architects of your material world, and your attitudes the builders. If you have thoughts about how you want to conduct your life and then behave in a manner that does not reflect this `rightness‘, ultimately you become self-defeating in your ability to manifest. Continue Reading »

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Sometimes, you have to be a clown

Sometimes, it pays to be a clown. It pays to do things that make your people and your customers laugh. Remember the power of the Court Jester: in the Middle Ages, the jester was the second most powerful person in the kingdom after the king because he made people laugh while he was telling the truth. If you truly want to capture the attention of others, make sure you amuse and entertain them. But do it in a way that is respectful and appropriate.

This point is especially appropriate to those people who have a great sense of humour. If you have this skill, use it to its maximum. If you haven’t, try to develop it. But don’t force it. Continue Reading »

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Manger. An individual who directs and/or controls the activities of other individuals or of systems. Examples of systems would include bookkeeping, office, procurement, production, service, operations, and finance.

In the survival stage of your business you will undoubtedly hire some managers. If after a few years you have between five and ten people on the payroll services, it is likely that someone will be functioning as an assistant. The title of this assistant may be vice president, executive secretary, or office manager. Call him what you will, this person is the one who takes over when you’re gone, and who oversees that portion of the business that you don’t. Continue Reading »

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ASSET VALUE

For most companies the asset value should represent the lowest amount below which the owner might just as well liquidate. There are only two differences between asset value and liquidation value. In calculating asset value you don’t have the costs of liquidation and you can be more generous in appraising certain assets than you might be if you had to liquidate.

INDUSTRY STANDARD VALUE

It’s common in many industries to have a valuation method. Travel agencies are generally valued at ten times annual commission. Manufacturers’ reps, on the other hand, are generally only worth one year’s commission. Magazines use a certain number of dollars per subscriber. Manufacturers might expect to get between two and ten times annual earnings. Continue Reading »

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The Rules of the Game

As in any game, the “people game” has rules that must be honored if you are to become any good at it.

I’ve included a few here to give you a taste for them. As for the rest of them, you’ll have to discover them for yourself by playing a game of your own. You’ll learn the rules in the process.

1. Never figure out what you want your people to do and then try to create a game out of it. If it’s to be seen as serious, the game has to come first_; what your people do, second.

2. Never create a game for your people you’re unwilling to play yourself. They’ll find you out and never let you forget it.

3. Make sure there are specific ways of winning the game without ending it. The game can never end because the end will take the life right out of your business. But unless there are victories in the process, your people will grow weary. Hence, the value of victories now and then. They keep people in the game and make the game appealing, even when it’s not. Continue Reading »

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