In Thankfulness

Today is Thanksgiving and I am reflecting on all of the things that I am thankful about. Like most people I am thankful for family, a home, friends and amazing encounters with God and the people that He continually brings into my life. But today I am also thankful for failure.

Failure is a teacher like no other. It confronts us where we do not want to be confronted.  When a relationship fails we have a choice to blame others, or to consider that the common denominator in all of our failed relationships is “me” and therefore I need to let failure teach me something and examine my ways. When we fail financially we can blame the market, our business partner, God, or some outside circumstance, or we can again use it as an opportunity to examine our methods. Was it really all of those things? Or maybe we did not plan enough, work smart enough, or learn a lesson that needed to be learned. Maybe we need to ask some hard questions and reflect on the answers and make plans accordingly.

Failure is an opportunity to acknowledge our mistake and move forward. If we ignore it and stumble yet again back into the same process we get to repeat that failure. I am reminded of Moses taking the people of Israel around the same mountain again and again for a 40 year period. I have always personally preferred the Jonah 3 Day Method over the Moses Mountain Method. 3 days of absolute hell but you have no choice but to confront your demons and deal with your heart because there is no way out but real humility. It is in that moment of absolute and complete failure that we can actually admit defeat and ask for forgiveness and make real plans to change our ways. We get pretty committed to a different path when the one we are on is completely decimated before us.

I have always asked God to teach me quickly and in many things I have been graced to be a quick learner. There has been one issue though that continually has be looking at the mountain. This week I had a revelation that I need to stop telling God how big the mountain is, and start telling the mountain how BIG my God is! This week I am thankful for the failure because I finally put myself into the position of being swallowed by the whale. So it is a day of repentance and change. One can accept the defeat and death of being eaten by the monster or one can examine their deviated path, and make a course correction while crying out to the Creator who has the ability to add His Super to our natural and create something remarkable.

I am thankful for failure. It is a key to learning quickly if we acknowledge the failure and look deeply within to change the results that are going out. I am also thankful for interesting and wise men and women who have come into my life and shared valuable insights that I could learn from in those critical "belly of the whale" moments.

Rejoice in all things, and again I say rejoice!

May you enjoy your Thanksgiving time with your family, and may you  find thankfulness in all things.

Always Loyal2U,

Kerry George

Risks in Business and Relationships

It is true that many new businesses fail. Sad, but true.

Planning may be a key component and many simply don't know to plan or they were not even planning to start a business and suddenly they find they are running one.

So many of us start a business because we have an idea, or we have a passion for something. We realize there is money to be made in it, so we try it out and find out that "yes" we can do it! So we are off to the races. We make some mistakes and hopefully correct along the way. We do some things right and thankfully pull out of some narrow situations.

Others of course don't pull out of the hard situations. Something takes them out.  Would planning have saved them? Probably it would have saved some of them, but the Titanic was built by professionals and there was a lot of planning that went into it. Planning did not save them.

Some of us learn to plan along the way, because we did not know to plan in the beginning. Perhaps we should have had all of the marketing analysis done in advance, but we had never heard of a marketing analysis. We finally figured out a business plan in the second year of operation.

We all need to learn. Some of us need to learn as we go about how to do a competitive analysis, and due to financial strain we have to keep working to pay the bills as we figure it out.

But everyone needs to learn something. Those who have incredible business savvy and the wisdom of Aristotle in engineering may still need to learn how to have real relationships that are deeper than sweet talk. There are reasons that people repeat the same patterns in life over and over.

When we go looking for the wrong that someone has done we can then use that as excuse to not get too close. They have hurt someone before so we reason, they will hurt us. Well the fact is, we all have dirty laundry somewhere. Can we throw away every potential friendship because people made mistakes? Is that about them? Or is it about us?

Sometimes we act out of an orphan spirit. We were abandoned. We were rejected. We were used. So now we sabotage and call it wisdom. We say we are being authentic when in reality we are being chicken.

Business is a risk. People make mistakes. People get hurt. It is wise to minimize risk, but not wise to let fear keep you from starting or from moving on.

Relationships are a risk too. People make mistakes. People get hurt. As friends, as lovers, as mates, it is all a risk...

You risk that you have to trust again.
You risk an interuption in your plans (And if you have been strategizing your personal life like you have been strategizing your business life, that is a HUGE risk.)
You risk having to be transparent and potentially admit motive to another human being.
You risk giving up some things that you like to find shared things that you like.
You risk healing.
You risk moving on.
You risk change that in the end could be good for you.
You risk feeling alive in emotion that you have tried to kill for years.

But like business, nothing is ever gained without some element of risk.

Businesses succeed. Some fail.

The same is true of relationships.

But I for one will take risks, believing both in business and in people as Alfred, Lord Tennyson did

I hold it true, whate'er befall;

I feel it when I sorrow most;

'Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all.

I would rather forgive someone their mistakes than avoid the potential that they will make any.

Kerry George
Loyal2U

...and I have to ask, "Who is loyal to you?"

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/-5-Dozen-Rose-Day-this-week-.html?soid=1102534231603&aid=q9r8Oo9axts

This is an email that we wrote for a local florist. It is also a great local deal on roses. A great way to show appreciation or affection!

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/-5-Dozen-Rose-Day-this-week-.html?soid=1102534231603&aid=q9r8Oo9axts

Building The Team

We have done a variety of activities to build teams over the years in different capacities. It is definitely all about building relationships and there are two ways of looking at getting the buy-in. In some groups the consensus is easy to attain but in others it would not matter what you came up with, someone would bock. One thing that helps though is as a leader - never ask anyone else to do what you would not do yourself. Modelling a positive attitude certainly helps in getting a positive consensus overall. 

I have done the weekend retreats in posh hotel destinations and had the coaches come for team building as well. All have their place and depending on the team can have effectiveness. 

But one team building exercise I have always enjoyed is a camping trip. Nothing like camping to get people to be real and transparent. Typically I don't insist that everyone goes. It is better that way because then seeing who makes the commitment is part of the process. I just book a week and let the team come and go all week as each schedule allows. Most opt-in for at least 3 days and that gives us valuable one-on-one times as well as those powerfully impacting activities of overcoming together. There is nothing like a summer storm, or burnt steaks and eggs in the morning to see what people are really made of and how they will work together in a crisis. You are also always surprised at who really gets into it and has a great time

Goal Setting For Your Increased Social Media

Goal setting is a powerful tool to use in life and in business. It is especially important for social media. We need to have a plan in order to achieve consistency and consistency matters when we are trying to generate new leads with any online strategy. So to get started, physically take out a pen and paper and we will start charting a course. If we do not make a plan to succeed we will fail by default. Often the difference between the wildly rich and the incredibly poor is just the ability to make a plan and then to work it consistently.

With social media it is not only about where you are and where you are going, but it also has to do with the speed at which you will travel. If you engage quickly and get at it, you will arrive at your destination very quickly. Often with only a few followers in each social media you can create a vortex of activity that begins to drive business in your direction. By using a few tips you can make a plan to move forward and you will be surprised what will happen in the next three months.

1. Assess where you are now.

Before you can make plans for the future you need to really analyze where you are right now. When you look at a map there are two major points of reference. Where you are going and where you start. Once you have determined that you are ready to select the best route to get there.

So ask yourself some questions and write the answers down. Do you have a personal Facebook account? Do you have a Business page? Do you have a landing page for your Facebook account? Is there a Facebook “like” button on your webpage? Do you have a Twitter account for your business? Do you have a designed page when people look you up? Is there a “Follow Me” button on your webpage? Do you have a LinkedIn profile?

These are the basics. If you don’t have these in place then these will become your step one goals as we go through the process. If you have these in place let’s move on to some other questions.

Do you use TweetSpinner or Hootesuite to schedule tweets for you? Are you doing all of the posting yourself or do you have staff to help? Do you have an active blog on your website? Do you post your blogging activity in other locations on the web? Are you posting regularly on your Facebook business page? Are you Tweeting 4-5 times each day? Do you listen in on group discussions on LinkedIn to gain more wisdom in your field? Do you belong to groups in LinkedIn where you would find your ideal customer expressing his need for your service?

As you answer “yes” and “no” to the above questions you are beginning to figure out where you are and where you may need to get to.

2. Don’t get overwhelmed.

Take a big breath. Things that you don’t understand can be a bit frustrating and you are not alone in that frustration, but you don’t need to throw your hands up in the air and give up. Social media is not going away so quitting is not an option. Every year that goes by you are missing valuable business by not being where your customers are.

The good news is that it is not really that hard and it is so new that everyone is ‘just learning.’ We are all in this together and there is lots of help out there. So just take it one step at a time, and don’t worry. We will hold your hand and lead you through. Together we will all make it just fine.

3. Look at the bigger picture.

Take your head out of the work right now and think long and hard about where you want to be in five years from now. Do you want to be in the same business making the same money? Do you want to be incredibly successful? If you were considered to be a “thought leader” in your industry and if you were sought out for advice, would that help your business? These are things that can happen by developing good social media, emailing and blogging skills. These techniques could lead to you selling your business early for an astronomic amount of money. It could put you in a very different picture than what you are looking at today.

3. Strategize

Make that pen and paper work. Now you know where you are, and you know where you want to be. So there is a lot of ground to go over to get to the promised land. So what would step 1 be? And Step 2? What will you have to put in place? What will you have to give up in order to make it happen? What can you put on hold? Do you have anyone who could help you? Is there a staff person who could do some of this for you? Do you have a friend that you could ask questions about this?

We can’t continue to do the same things over and over and expect that the results will change. They won’t. So what do you need to change? How are you going to change it? Is it all up to you, or can you enlist the help of others? Put your team together for your success and get them all together for a brainstorming session. Write down all their ideas and then pull your steps out of that.

3. Make steps along the way.

What is phase 1 of the plan? And then what is phase two? You have thought about strategies, now make a plan. Step by step map out the route to get to the ultimate goal of where you want to be in five years. Make milestones along the way, so that you know when you have arrived.  

4. Build rewards into the plan.

You will lose heart if you don’t build some rewards in along the way. So build them into the plan. Go back through your milestones. How will you reward yourself for your success at each level? Buy yourself some flowers, take a special weekend off, or get yourself a new gadget. Celebrate with your partners, your friends and those who support you. Love life along the way or you may arrive at your goals having lost all that is important.

5. Share your goals with someone that you trust.

Having goals means sharing goals. Once you have written out your plan and you have it making sense, share your plan with someone in the social media or email marketing industry and get some encouragement and some feedback. You will find out that others believe in you and they believe in your plan. That will give you the strength to carry it through and be consistent.

If you have any trouble beyond that see us at our website www.loyal2U.ca and we will help you  with free tips in our website blog, or you can contact us for a free consultation. We can teach you how, or do it all for you allowing you to be “on” your business instead of being “in” it.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/How-is-your-marketing-going-.html?soid=1104274495091&aid=1iBVWWM5GOI

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/How-is-your-marketing-going-.html?soid=1104274495091&aid=1iBVWWM5GOI

Social Media Revolution 2011. Impacts marketing, supply chain, IT…Changing the world.

Social Media Revolution 2011. Impacts marketing, supply chain, IT…Changing the world.