Welcome to 2012! "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships." --Michael Jordan. January Theme: The 5 Priorities of Business: Principles - Prepare/Plan - Product - People - Profit. You are Your Values Business Principles are built on core values of you and your business.  Principles Defined: Fundamental, norms, rules, values that represent what is desirable and positive for an organization. Principles are basic, change rarely and govern your policies, goals and outcomes. Core Values Defined: The principles that internally guide an organizations conduct as well as its relationship with the external world. The core values your organization and its key people subscribe to define its character and the substance of your business, management, operations, products and services. To get started on your business principles, as an owner, you want to be clear what values you as an individual personally hold. When you are a customer, what makes you happy? What drives you crazy? When you are a subordinate, What is helpful? What leads to confusion? When you are with peers or friends, What do you expect others to believe about you? What will you not tolerate? When you are with your family, What are your dreams? What are your concerns? Defining your business principles starts with you and is the heart of who you are. Now, verbalizing these will lead to being able to develop and share yours with your team and build the principles your business will hold dear. Get your ideas flowing by checking out Samples: Zappos.com is more than create fun and a little weirdness Whole Foods Google Amazon believes in being frugal  IBM had a value jam last summer where they invited all their employees to share what they valued. Mystic Madness has set up a collection of 20 examples of idea starters for core values.  The principles that you live by in all parts of your life and business will be the values you share with your team. You may not achieve them 100% every day, but voicing them and giving life to them will enhance all you do in 2012! Linda Lucas Fayerweather www.ChangingLanes.biz  419-897-0528 linda@changinglanes.biz Consider working with a coach or a MasterMind Team to make 2012 the year of your dreams! Instilling Your Business Principles into Your Staff Getting your staff to care about your business core values or principles is a huge step towards success. Think of your business as an athletic team, every player must be running the same play and want to obtain the same goal. One bad player can throw an entire team astray. Think about what you want your team to do and how their skills can get your business to where it needs to be. Practice positive reinforcement: Are you giving positive reinforcement? Or just reprimanding them for little mistakes? If an employee makes a small mistake take her aside and talk about how to avoid the mistake in the future. You have to remember that your staff is human too and when under duress mistakes tend to happen more often. Share your Core Values to help employees build the your business principles: How are you getting there? How will your staff help you achieve these goals? Don't just tell your team what you want, help them understand and give input into your business values and principles Print your Core Values and POST them. Seeing the post everyday will remind you and  your players that they helped bring these principles to life and at the same time, give a sense of pride in their team. Tiffiny Fayerweather tiffiny.fayerweather@gmail.com Your Principles on the Internet Over the next few weeks I'll be talking about the core structure of a business broken down into the 5 P's, in order, Principles, Prepare/planning, Product, People, and Profit. If you miss one of these P's or don't give it enough time of day your business will have a difficult time succeeding. This week I'm talking about Principles, specifically how your Principles translate over to the Internet. Your Principles are your values, your standards, your fundamentals, your laws, your rules. They define you but more importantly they should be ingrained into your business and define your business and everything it stands for on every level. They should be well thought out come from your core, not forced, backed up by integrity, and never be compromised. Lastly your principles should serve your customers first then you. But how can your principles translate over to the Internet? Will it actually matter? Yes, it matters. It should actually matter even more. The Internet is not just a group of people doing things in a virtual world, making up web sites, selling goods/services, forums, and email. Yes, you can connect to people over the Internet but The Internet is a living creature. It is an abstract entity with feelings and is overly judgmental. If your principles are questionable, the Internet won't take mercy on you. It will chew you up no matter how big or small. The Internet is the gateway to the world and what you show the world better be good because it is out there FOREVER. It use to be if someone did you wrong who could you tell? Your friends and Family? Your neighbors? "Oh, don't shop there, they treated me terribly." You had no real voice and there was little recourse for the company who wronged you. Now, you can tell the world, NO, the Internet, and if the Internet cares it will back you up. For examples of this do a Google search for the following "Jeff Jarvis Dell Hell", "GoDaddy SOPA", or "Ocean Marketing Penny Arcade" In a day the Internet can make you rich. In an instant the Internet can ruin your life. Your values, your principles, and everything you and your business stands for will be tested constantly. If you don't have a clear message with what you stand for and the exhibit that message through your actions online and offline, there is no reason for anyone to trust you, no reason for anyone to want to do business with you, and no reason not to destroy you. But the Internet isn't all bad. It is actually a wonderful place that has changed the world for the better. It has given any one with a computer and an Internet connection access to the world. It has help companies be better and in some cases forced companies to be better. It has helped over throw dictatorships. It has help people stay connected. And so much more. All because the Internet acts like a watchful eye. That watchful eye wants to know where you stand. Does your business have good intentions? Does your business listen to its customers? What does your business do when faced with a bad review? How does your business stand up against your competitors? These are all questions your principles should answer. For my final thoughts, if your principles are tried and true the Internet can be a powerful ally and can help you achieve your goals and dreams you didn't even think were possible. But don't think for a second just because you can't see the people on the other end, it doesn't mean there aren't people and that they don't have a voice. -- Jeff Mendelsohn Liquid Mechanix Studio, LLC www.liquidmechanix.com 419.297.3364

January Workshops! One Year Action Plan for Success Date: January 11, 2012 Details: One Year Action Plan for Success - Planning that works for you and your team On Location: Bowling Green State University at Levis Commons Day One - January 11 8:30-4:30 Day Two - January 25 8:30 - Noon Cost: $249 with online registration ($299 at the door) - Bring your partner for an extra $90. Registration Here Building a Thriving Business for Your Future Date: January 25, 2012 Details: Building a Thriving Business for Your Future - Learn the 7 Tips to build a business that will Thrive with or without you. On Location: Bowling Green State University Perrysburg Campus at Levis Commons Cost $69 (additional partners $20 each) January 25, Wednesday 1:30 - 5PM Registration Here

It is YOUR Business

It IS Your Business "My business is my business" and there are many levels to think about your business - personal business, others' business and of course what I want to talk about is your business or your career because it is yours.

One of the beauties of owning a business is it is a reflection of your personality and what you value. If it isn't feeding your soul, then a makeover may be needed. Now, don't confuse a makeover with just changing your marketing materials - that is like "putting lipstick on a pig" as Charles Lummis said in 1926 - "it is still a pig!" A makeover is stripping your business down to its bare-bones, identifying your key markets, setting timely, results oriented goals and then making it happen.

Actually, this really sounds like a PLAN - Vision---Mission---Core Values---Goals---Projects - Your dream for Your business.

Many small businesses stay in the reactive world and end up living the life identified in the E-Myth as "they've created a job for themselves, not a business". You will hear them ask for help and follow it up with "I've tried that", "That will never work with my employees", "I can't do that", "I can't afford that", "That won't work." Well, guess what - they are right.

At any moment in time you can change the plot line of your business. Yes, it does take some work, maybe even some hard work, but you will be rewarded with the business of your dreams. Start with a plan and hold yourself accountable to meet those goals. If accountability is an issue, hire a coach or consultant - remember, even the best sports stars rely on coaches - it is a sign of growth!

Copyright 2010 Linda Lucas Fayerweather MBA EA
http://www.changinglanes.biz/
What are you doing right now to reach your goals?
Call Linda for getting your plan aligned with your dreams. 419-897-0528
linda@changinglanes.biz
One Page Business Planning Classes are forming - available from your desk! Oh, yes - coaching is included!


Want Stratospheric Succes? Learn the Five Laws.
Reading "The Go-Giver" over the weekend has solidified my belief that business as we’ve known it for the last two decades (or more, your mileage may vary) is so antiquated that to continue “as it’s always been” is maybe the most deadly thing you can do to your business. If your business has stagnated, if it’s slowed down to “just getting by”, or if you have serious concerns if you’ll be in business a year from now you can cheer up! Follow these “Five Laws of Stratospheric Success”.


The first Law, The Law of Value states; “Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value that you take in payment”.

You may have heard the phrase giving value misused by the Internet Marketing Gurus telling you to give away your secrets to entice your prospects. This misses the mark in two ways. 1) As used here, giving does not mean giving away - as in free. It simply means to present something, in this case value. 2) value in this context means the relative worth or desirability of a thing to the end user. More to the point it's about asking yourself the question; “What can I offer that will set me apart – and I mean WAAAAY apart – from my competition and will allow people to want me as the person they choose to do business with?

Near and dear to my heart is appreciation. This is one of the things that cost little or nothing and leaves a lasting impression. Say please and thank you (and mean it). Send Nice to meet you notes - not emails - in a greeting card in your own handwriting. Remember birthdays and, you guessed, it send a card that says Happy Birthday! (If you don’t have a system for sending notes and greeting cards head over to my site and discover a great way to do it right from your computer)

Here’s a good place to mention one of the most important keys to making this law work, and it may be a deal breaker if you can’t commit to it, it’s that you have to give without any emotional attachment to the outcome. Now I know that’s going to sound really wacky to you but that’s how it works… because there is an outcome every time.

Visit Amazon.com and get the book. Take this journey with me and let me know how you give value to your product or service.

Copyright 2010 Todd Pillars helps business owners and sales professionals generate endless referrals easier and faster than they ever thought possible. Please contact him today at 419-855-2273 or email him at todd@toddpillars.com . You can also find out more information about his Endless Referrals workshops at http://www.burgintl.com/toddpillars .