ChrisNotes

Law of Polarity

I am beginning to love the Law of Polarity.  The line between Success and Failure is as narrow as a razor's edge.  Every issue has two sides to it, like a coin, you just can't see both sides at once.  What side are you focusing on?

It is all right there- you just have to flip the switch.  Change the current from Negative to Positive. 

Came across this early today.  Dustin Hillis, the world's next sales Guru (Chris Notes it First), writes on Success Starts Now Blog about the RAFT he swims to when the current gets strong.   

Focus on what you can control; do not worry about what you cannot control.  Out of your power: death, flat tire, rain, cancelled appointment, etc.  Under your power:  hours you work, calls you make, your attitude.  How do you do it?  You need a tool, a touchstone, that icon is a RAFT.

R ealize an event is occurring
A ccept the situation
F ocus on the controllable (hours, calls, and attitude)
T ransform the negative emotion into positive momentum

Recall when adversity showed up at your door and you ignored it and went on to have your best day, week, month, or baked your best batch of cookies ever.  Reverse the polarity, keep charged, harness the flow, get amped up.  <ok analogy stretched enough already>

Chris Speaking on Business Exit Planning - Apr 24th

Time for someone to take notes on ME for a change!

I am speaking on Business Exit Planning this Friday, Apr 24th at Tower Club Breakfast.  Networking begins at 7:15am; presentation at 8:00; over by 8:30am.

You are invited. http://ping.fm/gitmF

Topics Include:

The most common objectives of business owners want from an exit

How to know if you are psychologically prepared 
How to measure your financial readiness 
The five (5) most common exit strategies. 
The landscape of transaction service providers 
Business valuation basics and the range of valuations

The presentation will explain the process to create a written exit plan and what are the five critical components of such a plan.

We expect 75 people or so- should be a good networking event. 

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and now Oprah

Today Oprah Winfrey joined Twitter and did her whole show about it.  She really matters.  200,000 followers in the first day during a week where Larry King began tweeting and Ashton Kutcher raced CNN (and won) to become the first Twit to have 1,000,000 followers.  How did he do it?  He put a video on YouTube, of course.

Last night, I went to a party with 100+ of my high school friends.  It reminded me of my senior year... nobody knew me, looked right through me... <oops, that was a quote from song Adam sang on AI>  Think how fast this is coming.  Not too long ago, a guy in NYC invited his whole Facebook to meet him at a pub.  One person showed up. 

Last night's gig was organized by one woman who picked a date, made an event on FB and invited the kids she found on FB and encouraged the rest of us to do the same.  This would not have happened a year ago.  I bet that out of the 100 people there last night, fewer thatn 10 were on FB a year ago.

Now, Oprah.  The twitter phenomenon was already way past critical mass.  Now the chain reaction will be accelerated.  Lots of people don't get Twitter.  They better get it fast. 

Keep it Real

Inspired by a Tom Peters blog on dealing with recessionary times:

Master your emotions
Do more.
Bring your good attitude.
Don't spend a lot of energy trying to figure it out.
Don't long for the good old days.
Be grateful.
Watch American Idol. 
Shrug off your losses.
Trust and believe.
Losses are like water off the duck's back. 
Stay in motion.
Breathe.
Work a Sunday crossword.
Avoid negative people at all costs.
Don't make all your decisions based on money.
Say "Please" and "Thank you."
Think.
Reconnect with people on Facebook. 
Go fishing.
Stop striving.
Take better care of yourself.
Practice yoga.
Be the lamplighter.  Bring good cheer to the people you meet.
Simplify.
Be considerate and kind.
Drink lots of water.
Plan and prepare for your future. 
Sleep well. 
Listen to jazz or classical music.
Be open to other ideas.

Doesn't it all come down to being aware of your Beliefs, Perceptions, Emotions and Fears?

Listen to Sidney Freedman's last words on M*A*S*H:  "Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice, pull down your pants and slide on the ice."

Tony Hsieh CEO Zappos.com

I heard Tony Shieh tell the Zappos company story.  How does a company sell shoes online at a premium price when you can go down to the store and try them on and pay less?  Here's how:

They have their 800 number on every page of their website.  They want you to call.  No call times, no scripts, their customer service people do not try to upsell you.  They offer free shipping both ways and a 365 day return policy. They do not drop ship; they warehouse everything they sell.  They do not optimize the warehouse for efficiency; it is optimized for speed of shipping.

They hire slowly and fire quickly.  If you don't fit the company culture, you don't get a job.  In fact, at the end of orientation and training, they offer you $2,000 to QUIT!  They know that new hires that take the money and leave are a good deal for the company.  Because those who don't quit really buy in to the culture.  The Zappos brand is their culture.

Tony says that is important is that having employees' values in line with company values is more important than the company values themselves.  How to establish a brand and a culture:

AmyK Hutchens speaks at Vistage meeting

Notes from AmyK's presentation.  www.amyk.com

Good thinking comes from asking yourself good questions.  Three levels of thinking (that matter):

1. Reflection- What happened? Who did? Were was? How did?
2. Evaluation- What would? Who would? Why would? How would?
3. Prediction- What might? Who might? Why might? How might?

A model for thinking about emotional response to events "CT-Far":

Circumstances - what happened
Thought - how did I perceive? / What was I thinking?
Feeling - how did this make me feel?
Action - what did I do?
Result- what came of this?

It is not what happens, it is how we react to it. Thoughts -> Feelings -> Actions -> Results

Which is it?  Do your thoughts control your actions or your actions control your thoughts?  AmyK says thoughts, others disagree:

"Weak is he who permits his thoughts to control his actions; strong is he who forces his actions to control his thoughts" - Og Mandino

“I don't sing because I'm happy; I'm happy because I sing.” - William James

Horst Schultze

The former CEO of Ritz Carlton, Horst Schultze spoke at a joint meeting of Vistage (TEC) and ACG of South Florida on March 2, 2009.

The winners are still winning and still keeping their customers in this economy.  Because of this setback in the economy, I can get ahead of my competition.  (Think Tour de France Mountain Stages) The economy does not change the vision of the organization.  The economy does not change the values of the organization.  The question is is everyone aligned with these values?

The first thing an organization needs to ask is who are we?  What is our vision?  Everything supports that vision.  What is our strategy?  What is our belief system?

Customer service is about customer loyalty.  Dissatisfied customers are worthless.  They talk bad about you.  Satisfied customers are neutral.  Loyal customers are what it is all about, and gaining their loyalty is about gaining their trust.

Rules of Business:
1.  Keep the customer.  Keep them loyal. 
2.  Get new customers, and you get most of your new customers through your existing customers.
3.  Get as much money as you can from the customer.
4.  Work on efficiency.  Do it cheaply.

The keys to process:

1. No defects
2. Timeliness
3. People who deliver and care

Service:

1. Welcome- Hello! (I am so happy you came to ask me something) 
2. Comply- What are your wishes? I am happy to do anything for you.
3. Goodbye, thank you, and I'm happy to have been able to help you.

Experience the Reality of Success

Just got back from four days with David Neagle in Las Vegas at his ERS seminar.  

I feel that I have had my head in the sand for a long time.  Here's what I learned:

• Belief is something that shows up in my thoughts, feelings, and actions simultaneously.
• When doubt creeps into thoughts, I no longer have a belief.
• What is stopping me from leaving my comfort zone is fear of losing love, security, and self-esteem.
• People are willing to die for their beliefs rather than to change them.
• Big or Small is neither until you compare it to something.
• People stop learning because they think they already know
• An outside circumstance is just a suggestion. Reject this suggestion and reality changes.
• Changing how I think is more important that what I think about.
• Our perception of the universe is very narrow- compared to most animals, our senses are BAD.
• Our senses are to help us navigate through the physical world.  Our bodies insist on believing our senses.  When emotion is attached, we are forced into acting. 
• The line between success and failure is razor-thin
• Most people have relatively low self-esteem, so the manipulate to avoid rejection.
• Your ducks don't have to be in a row... you can jump from where you are to unbelievable levels of success.

His stuff is mostly recorded programs.  I think it is all worthwhile.  Prices are high, I wish Neagle would give it a little more freely to help the Universal Good.  Why aren't more creative people like the Grateful Dead?  (Never liked The Dead's music, but I love that they used to encourage fans to bootleg their concerts.)

Chris Changes Direction with Noting

I am inspired this morning to pick up my pen and resume my mission here.  And I realized that I have not been precisely on point since I started this.  What my readers want to know is what I learned from reading a book (or taking a course).

I was at two seminar / workshops the past nine days in Las Vegas.  One of the facilitators noted, "Chris you take a lot of notes." 

I need to focus on my purpose.  What do I do?  Chris notes. 

Consulting and Professional Fees

I just got back from taking NOTES at the  Business Enterprise Institute annual conference.  One of the keynote speakers was Ronald J. Baker who writes books on pricing. He has several books, all worth devouring, on how to set prices.  Interestingly, he takes an economist's view as in the Karl Marx theory of time and labor. 

You will be amazed how much thought and science goes into pricing everything that we buy.  From airline tickets to cars to beer, very smart people are figuring out just how much of our money we are willing to part with. 

He makes the strongest arguments I have ever heard against the billable hour rate as charged by lawyers, accountants and other professionals.  He says that save Peter Drucker, there are very few management books that are respected as academic and well researched.  Baker strives for this standard. 

See CPA Dudes for a great example of value pricing in practice.

Combine Baker with Alan Weiss, and you have everything you need to know about charging fees.  I will provide NOTES on Million Dollar Consulting after I re-read it.