Monday, August 10th, 2009
Living and working in today’s ecionomy is like sitting in a glass house in the middle of a hail storm - noisy, a bit scarey, not completely safe, and when is it going to go away.
Unfortunately, the storm seems to have settled in around us but If you listen to the prognosticators, we are in for a long run, a short run, or it’s over. Sounds a lot like our weather forecasters.
So what does one do in this glass house. Some might say, set back and enjoy the show. Others say turn the music up and you won’t hear it so much, and still others say get under the bed and hope. All kinds of good advice available isn’t there.
In my house, we have decided to do a little of watching, a little bit of music and some hiding. We are not buying big items, regardless of the “two for one”, “three for one” or “get it free” promotions everyone is doing - we’re watching our budget more closely. We are listening to the music more, we turn up the sound a bit to drown out some of the negative things we don’t believe will happen, although we are not taking the “bluebird of happiness” approach to the storm. We are not hiding; we are out there letting people know we are still around and working.
Many of us have weathered these storms before and our house (business) has been a bit battered, maybe even a few broken panes, but it’s still there and still taking care of us.
Posted in 50+, Business Info, Economy, Faces Over 50, General Business, entrepreneurship, finance | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
I was playing golf recently with a former National Football League lineman who is now a successful investment banker (even in these troubled times).
We came to this one hole known as the “black hole”. It’s named this because many golfers lose golf balls here and the hole is very difficult. It has a narrow sloping fairway, on the left is a large flood control channel and on the right is a steep hill and fenced off area. Hitting the ball straight down the fairway from the tee box looks like an ominous task.
Before we teed off, I mentioned to my NFL partner to make sure to avoid the flood control channel. His reply was “What flood control channel”? He then promptly hit the ball straight down the center of the fairway. A couple of strokes later he pared the hole. Throughout our round of golf I kept noticing how he seemed to focus on where he wanted to hit his ball and not on any of the many obstacles (sand traps, water hazards, etc.) that were on the course. With few exceptions his ball rarely landed in a “hazard”.
The round of golf turned out to be a good lesson for me. Far too often, we tend to focus on the hazards of business (weak economy, lack of sales, lack of customers, etc.) rather than where we want our business to go (increased sales, positive cash flow, etc.)? Sometimes, thinking about what we don’t want to happen increases the odds that it will.
I’m not suggesting we ignore any hazard, just that we don’t focus on them.
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Monday, September 15th, 2008
Business contributes to the standard of living and quality of life of all nations, regardless of political systems. It provides jobs, pay taxes, and contributes to various charitable organizations. The money businesses and its employees spend leads to the building of schools, hospitals, libraries, parks and roads. Businesses provide the goods and services you and I purchase and wealth to owners. Each of these contributes to the raising of our standard of living.
Business also impacts the Quality of Life, such as our political and religious freedom, our health and safety, our environment, our education, and our freedoms of speech, property ownership, right to compete, own a business, and land ownership.
How these efforts are conducted are subject to great interpretation. A responsible and forward thinking business community invariably can raise the standard of living and promote a quality of life.
source
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