If old blind bassets can learn new tricks, maybe you can, too?

Willing to Learn
Yes, you can teach old dogs new tricks. I have a basset hound that is 12 years old and has not had eyes since she was 6. Lydia has learned to how to go anywhere using her paws, ears, whiskers and sense of smell to help her navigate her large yard and beyond. She is willing to learn, no one makes her and her teacher is trail and error.

As we come out the "Great Recession", businesses need to be ready to learn. As business owners, we need to be willing to ask questions, stay curious and put our arms around new technology. Many of the most successful entrepreneurs do not have college degrees, but they are usually willing to learn. 

• What do you need to learn to make your business the best this year?
• What does your staff need to maximize their strengths?
• What staff members have desire to learn and grow with your business?
• What staff members don't care to learn?

The ending of the recession won't wait for you. Make a plan now to garner the education you need to grow your business and plan who is going to do it with you. If Lydia can keep learning, so can we. 

Basset hounds are known for being stubborn, but when given a challenge, Lydia, the blind basset, will always look to maximize her knowledge of the world around her. Just ask the Maumee police where she has a rap sheet for being 'at large '- and they are not talking about her girth.

Copyright 2010 Linda Fayerweather

Changing Lanes LLC
 419-897-0528

http://www.changinglanes.biz/

The Pressure's On Us All
April happens to be National Stress Awareness Month. April 16th is National Stress Awareness Day. To mark the occasion Fast Company (Apr10) shared the following information with their readers. I think they're worth looking at because their readers are your prospects and your clients!

Children:

 ~One third of American children between 8-17 worry about their family finances.
 ~Two other childhood stresses are homework and being teased. Their coping mechanisms:
 *Listening to music (44%)
 *Eating (26%)
 *Talking to their parents (22%)

 Adults:

 ~62% of Americans are stressed out about Work (source: American Psychological Assoc.)

 ~Two thirds of spoken curse words are a result of stress. The typical person will swear 80 times a day, out of the 15,000 words they'll speak.

 ~Each year, more than 275,000,000 working days are lost in the U.S. because of absenteeism resulting from stress.

 ~1 in 4 Americans admits to having a "mental-health" day to cope with their stress: This costs employers $602 per worker per year.

 ~More than 3 out of 5 doctor visits are stress related. In the US alone, more than $22.8 billion is spent on anxiety-related health care each year.

 Question to you: What systems do you have in place to make doing business with your company stress-less for your prospects and clients?

 Rebecca Booth

Marketing Goddess
Imagine That!
419.855.3399
Celebrating 10 years of delivering results for our clients.

http://www.rebeccaboothmarketinggoddess.com/

http://www.marketinginabox.biz/

Lessons Learned & Tax Changes, Again.

"Treat your business like a Fortune 500 Company. Create and implement a process that organizes your company behind the scenes." --Nolan Baker

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Lessons Learned and Relearned
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While working with clients, family and myself (my most difficult client) I am constantly reminded that we all have good ideas that get lost in the daily clutter of life. Usually these ideas are simple, clear, and will make a difference. Just last week, Tim Pinkelman, a great business planner, friend and client, showed me a form he had created years ago for meetings to handle, organize and identify the next step. It was simple, one page, fill in the blanks, check the boxes to organize the activities of a meeting. This is the type of tool that helps the attendee listen instead of taking voluminous notes. A great tool he had rediscovered.

I think we all have those moments of "why am I not doing that anymore?" Mostly, it comes from the day to day stress of getting things done without respect to added value or savings.
So where to start to change this cycle? Well, I will usually say - a plan that is written and goal driven. But today, I want you to be the student as we approach the holiday season and the New Year.

1. Create order in your life. Let Chaos be a theory not applied in your life. Clutter is the zapper of energy; it reminds us of undone projects.

2. Keep is simple. Occam's Razor paraphrased by me is "if all things are equal usually the simplest solution is the best."

3. Find Clarity. Knowing what you want and when you want it are keys to success and happiness.

4. Set goals. Goals need to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. Think of goals as the GPS of your life - you know you want to get somewhere, right?

This week's quote is from Nolan Baker, a financial planner in the Toledo, Ohio area that has built a practice and grown it in these unique financial times. What the quote eludes to is the need to put systems and processes in place so that the creative juices and energies of your ideas are not lost! Whoa - that sounds like Lean in practice and a way to document what you have learned! Oh yes, he is the cover-boy of the http://www.seniormarketadvisor.com/  for November 2009.

While you are getting ready for the holiday season, get your mind in a place that will benefit your dreams for only then will you be of greatness for the rest of us!

Copyright 2009 Linda Fayerweather
What's working in your Business?
Changing Lanes LLC
http://www.changinglanes.biz/

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Tax Changes, Again
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One thing we can be sure about with taxes is they are a constantly moving target. On November 9, President Obama signed the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Act of 2009. That Act extended the first-time homebuyer credit for purchases signed before May 1, 2010 and closed before July 1, 2010. The new law also limited the credit to homes costing $800,000 or less and raised the income level to qualify for the credit ($125,000 for individual filers and $225,000 for joint filers).

However, the new law also extended the credit, up to a limit of $6,500, for buyers who have maintained the same principal residence for any five-consecutive year period during the eight-year period ending on the date they buy a new principal residence. So you don't have to be a first-time homebuyer to qualify for the "first-time" homebuyer credit!

Buying a home has always offered tax-saving opportunities. The new law makes these opportunities even more attractive. If you're worried about missing these sorts of "hidden" opportunities, then call today to discuss what we can do. And let your friends, family, and colleagues know that we're here to help them, too!

Tim Pinkelman, CPA
Accounting Center & Tax Services, Inc.
http://www.accounting-centeres.com/
419-882-9255 or 734-847-0400

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Links of Interest
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A Free Copy of Think And Grow Rich! The Best-Selling Success Book of All Time by Napoleon Hill. http://www.FreeTGRbook.com/ChangingLanes. Vic Johnson, wants to give you a free copy. It is one of my personal favorites and one I give to college graduates. Take the opportunity to get one for free!

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SMART goals details
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Does your Business have a Plan? Webinar and Live Classes are available
now with Changing Lanes. Your business can still be the business of your dreams.
December 7, 9, 10 - live webinar.  Registration
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Learn more about Occam's Razor
Have a profitable week.
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Linda Fayerweather, Editor
Changing Lanes LLC