Richard Raymond Associates

Are you an entrepreneur or a leader?

2012-01-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

CBS Money Watch recently published an article comparing and contrasting entrepreneurs and leaders.

The entrepreneurial leader, the author noted, are people who not only changed our lives but changed life as we know it. He noted as entrepreneurial leaders people such as Steve Jobs (Apple), Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia), Herb Kelleher (Southwest Airlines), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Henry Ford (Ford Motor Co.), and Sam Walton (Walmart).

While I very much liked the article, I thought it could possibly have been comparing leaders and managers.

And at the same time, I see significant value recognizing distinctions and nuances, when and where they exist, between manager, leader and entrepreneur. Awareness of and the ability to articulate distinctions demonstrate an intense knowledge and understanding. The Sami, for example, an Artic indigenous people, have hundreds of words for snow (Wikipedia).

What do you think? You can read the article at http://bit.ly/zvGiRl.

A Happy & Prosperous New Year!

2011-12-31T07:50:00.000-08:00

Wishing you a very happy and prosperous 2012 ... as we end and begin in a weaving of life.

"Making a fishing line from a piece of hair, twisting it both sunwise and moonwise - This is the way life is. We weave together sunrise and moonrise, man and woman, summer and winter, and in that weaving there is life.” - A Mohawk observation/quote.

Why Family Business?

2011-12-12T18:51:00.000-08:00

Approximately 85% of all businesses are family-owned - from neighborhood mom-and-pop stores, to the millions of small and midsize companies, as well as the household names such Wal-Mart and Ford Motor Company.

While not unlike most small businesses, less than 30% make it past the third generation. Family-owned companies, however, enjoy a comparative advantage over their management-based counterparts. A success stemming from shared values, industry knowledge, and skills learned over generations, as well as other traditional competitive advantages of small business.

Why family business? I grew up in a third-generation family construction business, listening to my father talk about business around the dinner table.

I started and sold an environmental management business, and completed training as a business coach. Since 1996 I’ve worked with closely-held and family business owners on leadership development and business growth; and now focus exclusively on working with 2nd-4th generation family-led businesses, out of a sense of a family business’s overall value to society. I also lecture on family business management in the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City University of New York.

Why family business? Intriguing and extremely valuable, beyond their competitive advantage, family businesses contribute to the social and economic fabric of the community in which exist, upholding a sense of trust and unfailing values.

Entrepreneurs and owners of family-led firms rightfully focus on revenue and growth of their business. Unfortunately many never learned the unique needs and strategies for multi-generational success in a family business – strategies such as a requirement that family members wanting to join the family business work, get a raise and promotion somewhere else, thereby averting concerns of nepotism, or clear roles for family members that support the growth needs of the business. This is important, for if the business does not prosper than the family will not be prosperous.

The Little Red Book of Family Business

2011-12-11T16:01:00.000-08:00

“The fundamental task of parents is to raise responsible adults who have high self-esteem and can function independently in this world,” David Bork, The Little Red Book of Family Business.

The Family Firm Institute, a professional organization for individuals involved in family businesses have a list of recommended books on family businesses. The Little Red Book of Family Business is one of them. It is a pocket-sized book of wisdom about the complex and rewarding world of family businesses.

The advice in the book was culled from the author’s 40+ years of experience working as a family business counselor, covering topics such as family-work boundaries, competence, competition, being rich, sibling relationships, and spousal roles. Each point is brief, to-the-point, insightful and sometimes humorous. Their strength is probably as a conversation-starter for an indepth dialogue with family members.

The main focus of the book is helping owners manage their families rather than their business. Interference in business decisions, double standards in employment, and succession wars can make families the worst enemies of their own businesses.

Some of the advice from Bork includes:

If the business does not prosper, the family will not be prosperous
Money is a tool, but it should never be used as a hammer
If the family ownership is used in marketing, then it is important for all family members to practice the values the family claims to have, and
Sparking solitary soul-searching- from the section on wills: "Don't try to legislate from 'the other side.'”

Bork's red book doesn't provide a solution to every problem, nor does it claim to. "This is a little book, not a big one," he writes. But its pithy phrases provide a benchmark for determining the strengths and weaknesses of a family's relationship with their business.

Available from Amazon and other book sellers.

When Family Issues Overflow Into the Business

2011-12-01T20:04:00.001-08:00

In the midst of a fullstaff meeting Jim’s father turned to him and announced loud enough for all to hear, “You’ll never havewhat it takes to run this business.”

When familyissues overflow into the business it hurts the business, the employees as wellas all family members, jeopardizing the sustainability of the family and thebusiness.

Family businessesprovide a unique cultural and economic tapestry within our society. Planning,starting with an end in mind of how the wealth within the business and familywill transition to the next generations, creates greater well-being within thefamily from one generation to the next.

Most programs and training of business owners and entrepreneurs, however, stop with maximizing the growthof the business - short of achieving the sustainability of the family and thebusiness.

The fact is, though, family-business Best Management Practices, whichsupport the growth of the business, grow the estate of the shareholders,promote the health and well-being of family members, and increase familyharmony, can be learned.

About Family Businesses

2011-01-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

Family-owned businesses are a unique and integral component of our economy with distinct competitive advantages over non-family, management-based businesses.

There are, in family businesses, like in entrepreneurial businesses, concentrated ownership structures with overlapping responsibilities of management that enable speed in decision-making and “getting to market.” Family businesses, however, benefit further from its single family-ownership-management interaction.

A desire to protect the family name translates into high product and service quality, and a higher return on investments, which being a high-quality leader produces. Sons and daughters growing up in the business develop a deep understanding of the history and culture of the family firm as well as of the industry, the market, and the products. They watch leadership in action and decisions being made; they learn the benefits of patient money; and they develop a vision towards generations into the future.

Yet, while family businesses account for approximately 85% of all businesses in America, less than 30% survive to the second generation and 10% may make it into the third generation.

The problem is that most business owners have never participated in a succession process before. They started as an entrepreneurial business and grew into a family business. The focus has been on their growth; and they are unaware of best management practices of “family” in a family business. And, like most, passing it on some day - not being a part of the business - is not part of their thinking.

Children may participate in the business to help out, and stay because it is the path of least resistance. Perhaps they are expected to, or are needed. Or it becomes assumed that they will take it over, whether they are best suited or not, whether they want to or not. Or whether the founder is ready to leave or not.

The challenges to succession in a family business grow more complex as the business and family grows. Handing over the keys one day without consideration to nepotism, fairness, sibling rivalries, non-family members working in the business, birthright, estate planning, and an understanding of how the family operates in the context of the business is a prescription for failure.

The heads of family businesses should care. They have a number of unique competitive advantages, and when developed with a perspective of the next generation can become a very powerful force supporting the family and serving the community in which it operates, for generations.

Like everything else - your business, your investments, and a vacation benefit from planning. As the founder you may be struggling with how to leave, no clear successor, what’s next for you, or what this means to you, the business and the family; and as a sibling you may be encountering responsibility without authority, shareholder second-guessing, or sibling rivalry.

Needed are clarity on the goals, identification of the alternatives, and understanding of steps to get there, and the means to discuss them with the family and the managers of the business.

I grew up in a third-generation family construction business. In my business I work with the heads and next generation siblings of family businesses on developing the relationships and implementing family business best management practices to help them grow their business across generations. Last year I started teaching, as an adjunct professor, Family Business Management in the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City University of New York. More importantly I have begun working with my siblings – all who are small business owners and self employed – to use our collective experience, knowledge and resources to benefit our children in generations to come.

A New Year

2011-01-07T14:02:00.000-08:00

Greetings. Wishing peace, joy and prosperity to you, your family and your friends. A winter solstice and the lunar eclipse of December help me recall how infinite the universe is. May you celebrate the unique gifts that you bring to the world, build a dream ... so the dream will build you, and appreciate the moment ... so your desires will become your future.

2010 has been a year of growth and new possibilities. I look forward to 2011 and hope you find the coming year full of many unexpected opportunities.

I am sure, by now, you’ve had enough “what are your resolutions or goals for 2011?” Seth Godin (author of business books Linchpin, Tribes & The Purple Cow) sent out in, his daily ezine recently with a list of his accomplishments – or as he calls it what he shipped - in 2010.

Godin stated: This might be a useful exercise. Doesn't matter whether it was a hit or not, it just matters that you shipped it. Shipping something that scares you (and a lot of what follows did) is the entire point. [Funny, it's actually difficult to publish a list like this... maybe that's another reason we hesitate to ship, because we don't want to tout too much]. ... This obsession with shipping can really make things happen…… I didn't do all this myself... far from it. Thanks to … the thousands of readers and volunteers and colleagues …. that pitched in and made these projects happen. There's also another ten or fifteen projects that I started but couldn't find the guts to finish or ship. If it doesn't ship, it doesn't count.

Godin added, “Your turn to post a list somewhere... You'll probably be surprised at how much you accomplished last year. Go ahead and share with your friends, colleagues or the web... don't be shy.”

And unexpectedly, in a conference call with several mentor coaches from around the country discussing purpose in the context of 2011 goals, we focused on the work of Thomas Leonard, considered by many as the father of coaching. He suggested we could be more successful seeking to attract what we want in our lives rather than pursue them as goals … it is by creating a vision of what we want and a vacuum that pulls us forward rather than goals that we strive after. A compelling vision is a product of purpose, a picture of the future, and our individual values.

We can create a vacuum by making a problem that needs a solution, for example, a promise that will be difficult to achieve. Robert Kennedy stated: I dream of things that never were, and ask why not? Oprah Winfrey created a vacuum and now is pulled forward by over 100 producers that create an arena in which she works.

Finally, Leonard stated that we could better attract what we want by surrounding ourselves with friends and colleagues who believe in our ideas, and will bring out the best in us. Leonard passed away in 2003 at the age of 47.

Best regard and wishing you a great year.

Strategies For The Times

2010-07-01T11:48:00.000-07:00

A publisher of a blog for the recreational boating industry recently asked me if I could write something to help his readership who are struggling to hang-in there until the economy improves.

I was a bit baffled at first what to write because it looked like we were in a state of beginning recovery in some arenas and still stuck in stagnated growth in other places.

I spent several hours reading on the internet, and came to realize that businesses need to employ tactics as though they were entering a recession, to shore up the business and maintain a presence for your customers, as well as tactics intended to make it easy for your customers to buy from you and keep them as fans of your business as the economy thaws and people start to spend money.

The seven things businesses should be doing now in light of the current economy are:

1. Keep an eye on cash flow … and work closely with your customers and your suppliers to help keep your checking account in the black. If stuck don’t be reluctant to ask suppliers to allow you to extend your payments - smaller amounts over time when short of cash. Be sure, however, to keep up with the new arrangement to avoid souring the relationship. Equally allow others who owe you money to extend payments when you can. Several of my clients showed me that the customers and suppliers that you come-through the recessions will be the ones you can count on also when things get better.

2. Continue to cut back on unnecessary expenses. Continue to go slow on unnecessary expenses to build your cash reserves. The recovery has been called a 2-step one: two steps forward and one back. You’ll want cash for the "one–back" step as well as the "two-forward” steps as the economy improves. A silver lining to a recession is that it helps us get rid of dead wood that seemed to creep up when money was more abundant.

3. Pay as you go. Capital business expenses should be made on corresponding sales. Known as “bootstrapping,” strive to make sure that elective expenses relate to sales generated within that period of time. This is important. As the economy strengthens there may be temptation to spend on things you have wanted, but held off buying. Continue to hold off for now. If sales are not forth coming, then you need to put in more effort with respect to marketing.

4. Strengthen your community. A community’s collective and individual strengths grow from supporting one another. The downturn hit some sectors harder than others. Understand how your customer base was affected, and adjust your strategy accordingly. For example, if your customers are short on inventory, offer a re-stocking promotion. Partnerships built in hard times lead to strong business relationships that last for many years.

5. Spend on marketing and advertising. This is a necessary expense during a recession. Be visible and let your customers know you are still there. Also, people see the product or service they want when they are ready to buy. Even if they were your customers before, when they are ready to buy they won’t unless they see you. Knock on doors now, and be ready for when they are ready to spend.

6. Offer dramatic, attention getting and significant discounts to reward your existing customers and attract new ones that will stay with you. By managing and engineering your cost carefully, a discount will mean thinner profit margins, but will result in increased cash flow and market share. A restaurant, for example, that offered a significantly discounted Sunday dinner saw its weekend revenue more than double.

7. Stick to your knitting. Build on your strengths; don't diversify into areas that stretch your ability or are simply too risky. For most businesses, this is the time to reorganize and improve on what you do best. Seek growth a bit slower than you would have 4 years ago. It is not the time to absorb the financial repercussions of a bad decision.

The principles are the same for a service as well as a retail business: A service business needs to continue to manage cash flow carefully; spend on marketing, so people know you are still out there; offer incentives for clients to buy from you - if selling B2B, help your clients re-ignite their own recovery by offering discounts on materials they need; and importantly build community.

Linchpins

2010-03-23T19:10:00.001-07:00

“People today are being encouraged to make connections, solve interesting problems and to lead”, declared Seth Godin, business guru, author of at least a dozen books including Purple Cow and Tribes. Godin was the keynote speaker at the 2010 Small Business Summit in New York City last week.

The Summit was a remarkable opportunity to be with over 500 small business owners and hear from thought leaders like Seth Godin. The best thing I can share with you about the Summit was some of Godin’s ideas from his recent book Linchpin (Penguin Books), in which he describes a revolution of people becoming essential building blocks of great organizations. The following are some of the highlights as they touched us.

1. The industrialization model of the past century was effective in maximizing production efficiency. It produced scaleable cookie-cutter businesses, but also ordinary products and ordinary people. The model depended upon a workforce culture of obedience and conformity. It carried a promise to people working in the factories that they would be safe, but they would have to follow the rules and perform work that did not require thinking. The result was that it created a labor pool that was easily replicable, interchangeable and dispensable.

2. The problem, however, with a business based on inexpensive, interchangeable, dispensable parts is that once the system is determined others will be able to replicate it less expensively. Management, as a result, would have to produce a product without personalization or connections, and would have to lower its prices to compete, which means a race to the bottom.

3. The world is a different place (again). Today, people are not obedient and are not following rules. They are instead being asked to think. They are being encouraged to make connections, solve interesting problems, lead, and express the art of what they do. This is a race to the top.

4. These people are the linchpins. They are people who lead regardless of title. They connect others, invent, make things happen, and create order out of chaos. They stand up and do work that matters. They make significant differences in whatever they do. They are making their own choices for their own futures. They are the essential building blocks of great organizations.

5. Under the old model there was management and workers. Management needed workers for its factories, and workers needed factories for work, but workers were more dependent upon the factories than factories were dependent on workers. Today, the means of production are a worker and a laptop connected to the Internet, which results in a fundamental shift in power and control. This shift has released the genius in people, who are breaking away from everything they learned. They are breaking away from everything that meant being obedient to the rules of industrialized productivity that produced “perfect” products.

6. Doing it perfectly is boring. It results in ordinary people and ordinary products. Godin sees that what new business really wants is to pay people, not for being competent, but to invent … to be adverse to bowling and every game where what’s perfect is pre-determined.

7. Linchpins do two things for their organizations. They exert emotional labor and they make a map. And when they do that they are indispensable to the organization. They then have more power than management, and when management attracts, motivates, and retains great talent it has more leverage than the competition.

Seth Godiin may be ahead of the curve for many small businesses that are following an industrialization model for their small businesses by creating systems and hiring qualified, but “least” qualified people, to handle routine tasks, as described by Michael Gerber in his best-selling book, The E-Myth Revisited (Harper Business). Godin even writes about Gerber’s model in Linchpin. We may still struggle with how would we get anything made if there were only leaders and no followers. But that may be the wrong question. Rather, what could you accomplish if a leader made everything you produced.

The time with Seth Godin was exciting. I hope I have shared a small sense of his creativity and passion; and I encourage you to go to his website (www.sethgodin.com), and follow his blog (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/).

The Spider Web Syndrome of Small Business

2010-03-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

I am preparing my class on Starting A Small Business that I teach at New York University several times a year, and found this great metaphor (Kaplan, Patterns of Entrepreneurial Management, Wiley) about the small business and the spider web.

The skills needed to successfully run a small business with few resources are significantly different than those needed to be successful in a large corporation; and executives who left corporate jobs and are starting businesses will find that they need to look at their new business more like a spider web than a castle.

In the early stages, small businesses are fragile like a spider web, where loss of one or two of the main strands can result in the loss of the entire web. The corporation, however, is more like a castle with strong protection. The start-up has no legal department, marketing department, separate sales team, or someone to call when the computers stop talking with one another, except perhaps themselves. The start-up small business owner has to do it all at first, and often with no experience being a multitasking, always-on-duty spider!

Leadership Succession

2010-02-23T13:33:00.000-08:00

At some point all successful organizations encounter the challenge of key people retiring. Whether they are part of the leadership team or the head of a family business, planning a successful and seamless leadership transition is a major challenge.

Succession planning can be one of the most important processes to ensure the legacy of the organization. Mentoring and leadership programs help potential successors develop their skills, and are useful to the existing leadership in selecting successors. The challenge, however, goes beyond identifying who receives the new leadership mantle. The organizational knowledge, embodied in team leaders and developed over time, is critical for the long-term success, and needs to be conveyed from generation of leader to generation of leader.

Organizational knowledge, unlike data or information, exists within people. This knowledge is derived from their experiences, and it includes elements key to the organization's success, such as judgment, values and insights. Most importantly, in a succession process, you need to recognize that this knowledge is not easily replaced.

Often, in the selection of a successor, it can take many years to tap into individuals who have the requisite skills and abilities to replace the CEO or a long-tenured employee. The process can be expedited, however, by thoughtfully transferring this knowledge from the current incumbent to the next generation; and the more time and energy that is invested into the knowledge transfer process, the more likely the success of the successor.

The process requires understanding the intellectual capital and competencies needed to lead the organization. It is also requires knowing where the gaps are, understanding the vulnerabilities that could inhibit a good succession process, and, of course, developing specific strategies and mechanisms to close the gaps.

Ultimately, the leader's role is to take the organization into the future; and in that sense it is one of stewardship, of continuing the health and viability of the organization for the next generation.

A transition process presents an exciting opportunity for a firm to develop new competencies. The next-generation of leaders bring complementary skills and perspectives that can be precisely what your business needs as it seeks to update itself and to continually create value for its customers over time.

And what do the future leaders look like? There are characteristics that you want to look for and nurture in people vying for the next chapter of leadership. You will see in them that:

· They love the nature of the business

· They know themselves, and their strengths and weaknesses

· They want to lead and serve

· They have good relationships and the ability to accommodate others, especially if part of a successor team
· They have earned respect of employees, suppliers, customers, and other leadership team members

· Their skills and abilities fit the strategic needs of the business not only for this time and place, but also for expected future needs

· They respect the past and focus their energies on the future of the business and the industry

The current leadership, in addition to having responsibility for the profitable growth of the firm, also needs to see themselves as stewards carrying the organization into the future, developing and preparing the next generation of leaders to lead.

The Rockefeller Habits

2010-01-12T06:58:00.000-08:00

I was recently introduced to The Rockefeller Habits (Verne Harnish, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, SelectBooks) and thought you might find them valuable too.

They are a model for achieving real and positive change, for positioning your business to take advantage of emerging opportunities as the economy improves, and for achieving profitable growth. The clients that I have been working with, who are using the habits, have seen increased effectiveness and productivity.

The habits are John D. Rockefeller’s management and leadership principles. Harnish gleaned them from Ron Chenoa’s biography of Rockefeller’s, The Titan. The 3 key principles are: Priorities, Data and Rhythm:

Priorities. Growth requires an alignment within the organization on goals and priorities. Does your organization have a large, long-term goal or vision? What are your top 5 short-term goals or priorities for the year and the next quarter ? Is the number 1 priority understood through the organization? Does everyone in the organization have their own 5 priorities that align with the organization’s priorities?
Data. It is important to have metrics that cover an extended period of time as well as metrics that provide a short-term focus on an aspect of the business or someone’s job. Do you have data on a daily and weekly basis to provide insight into how the organization is running and what is happening in the marketplace? What real-time feedback do you provide as to how your organization or team is performing consistent to your priorities? Does everyone in the organization have at least one key daily or weekly metric driving his or her performance?
Rhythm. “Being in a groove” with the business requires a well-organized set of daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual meetings keeping everyone aligned and accountable. The agenda for each provides the balance between the short and long term. While many businesses leaders may feel that they are spending too much time in meetings, in fact, they may be spending too much time in ineffectual meetings.

Rockefeller attributes his success, in part, to meeting daily with key team members to discuss the priorities they were working on, the daily metrics for those priorities, and, importantly, where they were stuck. These daily meetings can be likened to huddles or, as I call them, “stand-up” meetings, because they are quick and focused. A sit-down meeting has a different culture.

Weekly meetings have a different purpose and therefore a different agenda. They are issue-oriented, and their success is depended upon the daily meeting. The monthly meetings are educational; and quarterly and annual meetings are about strategy.

As these habits begin to bear positive results for your organization, a parallel growth of the organization's leadership is also needed. The role of a leader is to take the organization into the future. They will have to predict, delegate and teach, and perhaps the most important, to envision and speak about where you are headed.

To Be, or Not To Be … An Entrepreneur

2009-09-03T07:19:00.000-07:00

I recently received an email from a colleague who says she read that a professional practice differs from entrepreneurism, though she had thought of a professional practice as an entrepreneurial activity, and asked me what I thought.

It reminds me, initially, of the 3 blind people coming upon an elephant. One grabs the tail, one the trunk, and the other a leg. One says it is a rope, one says a hose, and the other says a tree trunk. A professional services business may or may not be an entrepreneurial endeavor. It depends upon whether you are observing someone looking at his or her practice as an entrepreneurial endeavor or a business.

I know professionals - chiropractors, attorneys, physicians and architects whose business depends upon their constant presence, and I know those who have developed a structure, a team, and systems whereby the business is self-sustaining, running without their constant presence.

You may come across the metaphorical elephant of a professional business that is entrepreneurial in nature and you may come across one that is of a sole-practitioner.

There is a difference between a small business owner and an entrepreneur; and there is also significant over lap. One quality of a small business is that the owner is interested in generating the income, with the long-term growth. The entrepreneur is interested in creating equity and then moving on.

For the business owner the reward is in the business. For the entrepreneur the reward is in the creation. I think the analogy applies to the professional practice as well. It is important to realize that there are other possible scenarios along the path. It is more of a gradient rather than one or the other.

There are benefits of each and a personal affinity for each; as I learned from my Dad that reason there is chocolate and vanilla ice cream is because some like chocolate and some like vanilla.

The perspective really needs to fall back to your primary reason for going into business. Your business is a tool to an end. I have found, however, that understanding exactly what that ‘end’ is for each of us, however, is easier said than done. But understanding that is where one needs to start with their business plan… what is it that you really, really, really want both from your business and in life. An answer that comes by listening to yourself away from the good opinions of others.

Godspeed and all the best to you.

Rick Raymond

Sharing Your Success

2009-08-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

Thomas Jefferson did it. So did Andrew Carnegie and Anita Brittina (she wrote “Diary of A Small Businesses Owner: A Personal Account of How I Built a Profitable Business,” and had what she called a self-board, which meet regularly to cross educate and support). And Napoleon Hill wrote about it in his classic and timeless book, Think and Grow Rich. They all had mastermind groups to help them achieve success.

Hill writes in Think & Grow Rich, “No two minds ever come together with a common purpose without creating a third, invisible intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind.” He further described the mastermind as the “coordination of knowledge and effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony."

The value of a mastermind group is in the participants who are a catalyst for growth and a source of knowledge. It’s like having a supportive board of directors, from which you can gain tremendous insights for both your business and personal life.

Participants raise the bar, challenging each other to set goals, brainstorm ideas, and create a structure of accountability that helps keep you focused in a manner that embraces honesty, respect, and compassion.

The mastermind groups I lead have 6-8 small business owners, and meet either monthly or bi-monthly. The members are fairly close in the stage of their business development, with similar goals and challenges. While I set a learning focus for each meeting, the agenda belongs to the group, and each person’s participation is key.

Mastermind groups can be established around nearly any group of individuals who have a common interest. In addition to a small business owner mastermind group, there are masterminds for the self-employed, the job seeker, individuals working on advancing their career, or spiritual thinkers, as well as play-writes, stand-up comedians, and people seeking to have an extraordinary year.

If you would like more information about mastermind groups, either to join or start one, please feel free to contact me at rickraymond@mac.com.

What is Your Story

2009-08-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

Martin Luther King said ‘I have a dream,’ not ‘I have a strategy and vision.’
A dream is so much more compelling than a strategy or vision. We have all experienced dreams and know what they are. We can get our arms around them and can imagine them. Strategies and vision, on the other hand, are too often associated with power point presentations.

About Story Telling
The age-old practice of storytelling is one of the most effective tools of a business leader. It is a skill that connects and engages people at their deepest level.

Stories are critical to every aspect of your business and help the listener to consider their own possibilities in the context of the story. They can inspire everything from understanding to action. They help galvanize an organization around a deﬁned business goal by telling about where you business is and where it is going. Stories help clients decide to work with you. Some of our most acknowledged leaders in business including Steve Jobs of Apple, Lou Gerstner of IBM, and Jack Welch of GE owe their success in part to their story telling abilities.

Stories can create legends that an entire workplace culture can build upon, and they have the power to break down barriers and turn a bad situation into a good one. They capture our imaginations and make things real in a way that cold, hard facts can't.

Stories help people learn, absorb, remember and share information and ideas. They motivate, persuade, inform and inspire. Compelling stories have far-reaching emotional impact – and a far longer shelf life than the dry, abstract, one-way methods of corporate communications that clutter businesses today. Stories demonstrate what success looks and feels like, painting a clear picture of how we might need to change the way we think and do things.

Stories are the compelling message that enroll others in your vision, and enable you to create an organization where the employees join you in creating equity in your business.

Every story has a purpose that you want to clarify at the outset, as well as selected to match the listeners’ interest or situation. Each recipient of your story is unique and your story wants to reflect the needs of each audience.

As a small business owner, many of your stories will be intended to move prospective clients to use your services. Story objectives for the small business owner include:

• Have a prospective client identify with the problems you solve

• Communicate who you are and who you work with

• Transmit a sense of your values

• Foster collaboration

• Leading clients and staff into the future

There Are 5 Basic Elements To A Story

A protagonist the listener cares about

The story must be about a person or group whose struggles we can relate to – your client, your team, your associates, and service providers.

A catalyst compelling the protagonist to take action

The listeners’ desire, pain, need or challenge. The facts. What is it that your client comes to you for? Look beyond he obvious and understand what he or she wants more deeply. For example the person shopping for a Mercedes Benz is shopping for prestige more so than transportation. This is your stories first act.

Trials and tribulations

The story’s second act commences as obstacles produce frustration, conflict, and drama, and leads the protagonist to seek change in an essential way – to use your product or services.

A turning point

This represents a point of no return, which closes the second act. The protagonist can no longer see or do things the same way as before. She takes an action as a result of your intervention.

A resolution

The third act tells how the protagonist either succeeds magnificently (or fails tragically if she did not use your services).

This is the classic beginning-middle-end story structure defined by Aristotle more than 2,300 years ago and used by countless others since. It seems to reflect how the human mind wants to organize reality.

What’s your story?

Your story may be for your prospective clients, your employees, or other stakeholders

In crafting a story to attract clients, begin with identifying a specific prospective, new client that you want and create a story to narrate how you helped someone else who struggled with the same challenges. You will have to do some homework in understanding your prospective client's needs. Identify the situation that is similar, and begin a story about the problem that client had. You can start your story with “Once upon a time….”.

And most importantly, practice. You can begin simply what a story about how you helped a client. Practice and practice your story, before different audiences - at first low stake audiences. Watch and listen to see how your story resonates; and experiment with different element and expressions until you get the reaction you want, “Can I hire you?”

If you want to read one of my stories see my blog of December 2005 that tells how it is that I came to be doing what I do.

The Trusted Advisor

2009-05-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

A pinnacle of the interaction with your clients is becoming a trusted advisor. The more that clients trust you, the more they will reach out to you for your advice, bring you in on more advanced, complex strategic issues, pay your bills without questions, refer you to their friends and business acquaintances, and forgive you when you make a mistake.

A trusted advisor handles a broad range of business issues for their clients as well has a deep personal relationship with them. The trusted advisor acts variously as a mirror, a sounding board, a confessor, a mentor, and even, at times, as the jester. It is the depth of the relationship that makes it trust based. Building this trust is a significant step in growing yourself and your business. You won’t become a trusted advisor to all your clients, but if the connection is there you can move the relationship to one of trust.

David H. Maister, Charles H. Green and Robert Galford in their book The Trusted Advisor describe several stages in the evolutionary process of becoming a trusted advisor: the subject matter or process expert, the subject matter expert with related capabilities, a valuable resource, and ultimately the trusted advisor.

The trusted advisor focuses on the client as an individual rather than a person filling a role for themselves. Problem definition and resolution is more important than technical or content mastery; and she has a strong competitive drive to find new ways to be of greater service. Also, trusted relationships grow rather than appear. The trusted relationship is both rational and emotional, and it is different for the client than for the advisor.

There are several principles of the trusted relationship that will help you build creditability and the trusted relationships: Go first and illustrate, rather than tell; listen for what’s different, not necessarily what’s the same; ask permission; say what you mean; have a sincere interest in the other person; be appreciative; and do your homework on your client.

Grow Your Level of Trust

You can increase the level of trust you have with your clients. First, importantly determine what stage you are at with them in terms of being a trusted relationship: a subject matter expert, an expert plus additional areas, a resource, or a trusted advisor. Clarify what it is you do that indicates the level of trust you currently have, set your intention to move the relationship to new level, and create a plan to develop the level of trust you want.

Some of the actions you take are internal, such as learning about your client and his or her business, and listening without judgment, and some are external such as anticipating needs or adding more value than expected. Finally, don't go it alone. Involve a colleague, advisor, coach, or mentor for reality checks and feed-back. You will get there faster with less wrong turns.

I wish you growth and success as you build your valuable client relationships.

Best regards,

Rick Raymond

Teams and Stars

2009-05-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

I having been reading Patrick Lencioni’s book, “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” and I'm finding that the team function has been in my conversations with others lately. I don’t know if it is the “yellow Volkswagen syndrome,” which is that you never see a yellow Volkswagen until you are thinking about buying one. Lencioni’s fifth dysfunction of a team is “Inattention to Results” which he identifies as the pursuit of individual star status and ego over the team. Team-work defines organizations as apart from a sole proprietorship, and John Wooden, the storied UCLA basketball coach, said that stars win games, but teams win championships.

My yellow Volkswagen was an email from Zig Zigler who told a story about teams in another way. He wrote:

When my wife and I were in Sydney, Australia, we had an opportunity to attend a performance of the Sydney Philharmonic Orchestra at the famed Opera House. The seats were choice, our night was free, so we jumped at the opportunity. When we arrived 30 minutes early, the orchestra members were already warming up. The individuals came in all sizes, ages and colors, and were both male and female. Some of them, like the cymbals player, would perform five or six seconds during the entire evening, while the cellist had one part that would extend over 20 minutes. As they warmed up, the “music” sounded like noise to me.

At one minute before eight the conductor walked into the orchestra pit. Immediately, everybody sat up straight. As he stepped to the podium, everybody was at attention. At eight o’clock, he raised the baton and when his arms came down the music started. What had been “noise” a few seconds earlier became a beautiful melody.

The orchestra leader had converted a team of all-stars to an all-star team. While each instrument produced entirely different tones, they all blended together in harmony. No one instrument dominated any other, but rather harmonized with and became a part of the others. Can you imagine what the results would have been, had every artist made up his or her mind that their instrument should be the star of the performance?

This conductor had, for a number of years, been a musician in an orchestra. He had learned to be “obedient” and follow the orchestra conductor when he was a performer. In short, he had learned to obey in order that later he could command. I once saw a young man with a t-shirt emblem that said “I follow no one.” What a tragedy! Because, until he learns to follow, he will never be able to lead. Think about it and I’ll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!

This is the antithesis of Lencioni’s fifth dysfunction of a team.

Asset-Based Thinking

2009-04-27T06:02:00.000-07:00

I have been re-examining Asset-Based Thinking (ABT), which is a valuable leadership tool for creating personal mastery that supports your work and career. Very simply, it is about your glass being half-empty or half-full, when in actuality it is probably both.

ABT is a cognitive process for identifying our assets, strengths, talents, synergies and possibilities that are available in you, other people and any situation. It is about viewing your business, yourself and life in terms of opportunities rather than problems, strengths more so than weaknesses, and what can be done instead of what can't be done. ABT creates a focal point of concentration and mental energy that will keep us alert and inspired to maximize all there is to gain from situations.

ABT is not blind optimism; and major companies, such as Monsanto, DuPont, Microsoft, Starbucks, Peabody Energy, Deloitte & Touche, MasterCard and the US Air Force have adopted ABT thinking in its approaches to developing leaders and managing change.

The opposite of ABT is deficit based thinking: telling yourself "it is not going to work, it can't be done." One problem is that deficit based thinking is hard-wired into our thinking as a survival mechanism. Survival, however, is no longer a controlling theme in our lives. The good news is that ABT is hard-wired also but less utilized and therefore takes a slight shift, conscious at first, in how we see things.

DEVELOP YOUR ABT

To strengthen your ABT make a list of three to five things you have accomplished in the past week or so. Now, reflect on the personal talents, strengths, and skills you used in making those accomplishments happen. Jot those down next to each accomplishment.

Take a good, long look at your talents, strengths and skills, making notes about common traits and how these traits are experienced. This is your ABT profile. What patterns do you see? Think about how you can leverage this particular positive pattern of skills, talents, and strengths-today, tomorrow, and next weekend! Do this reflection on a regular basis and you will be amazed at what you discover about yourself. (We all have major blind spots when it comes to our own unique assets).

Change The Way You See Everything, Thought Asset-Based Thinking, Cramer, Kathryn & Hank Wasiak. 2006. Running Press.

Weathering the Economic Storm as a Small Business

2009-03-08T17:48:00.000-07:00

I was making a presentation to my networking organization this week, and was asked what I was seeing in terms of what is happening to small businesses, or how they are reacting to the economic situation. I immediately have two responses to that question.

Riding the Waves of Cash Flow

First, cash flow is the problem. People are busy. They have work and projects, but money is flowing slowly in drips and drabs. People are taking much longer to pay, paying partial, and asking for discounts.

The positive side to this is that people are creating new alliances, and seeing that cooperative relationships are working rather than competitive ones. As small businesses, we are interdependent upon the business ecosystem. We provide services or products and have people provide us products and services. If there is an interruption in that cycle we are at an imbalance and disadvantage.

While we are all nervous and frustrated, those who are able to work cooperatively with others as a team on the same ship in this storm have the greater chance of success. Chaos forces the building of alliances larger than your own business. We need each other to survive, and those with whom I am able to build cooperative relationships with in difficult times will be those I continue to work with when the waters are smoother.

We are seeking certainty now, which at the moment is difficult to find. As a small business, I am eager to work with you to re-negotiate an agreement if needed, if we build trust and can know that the re-negotiated agreement is solid.

For example, a client received 35 cents on the dollar for work completed. Reaching out they came to understanding each other’s situation and intent better. This strengthened the trust they had initially developed, and they understood what was needed to get full payment, and importantly when to expect it – diminishing uncertainty. While the principal depends on payment from the client before paying the sub-contractor, there is a new communication and cooperative relationship between both parties with an understanding that going-it alone will not get you through this storm.

Bracing Against the Winds of Uncertainty

The second response was about uncertainty - uncertainty as to when, how, and how well the stimulus initiatives will take effect. And will we, when they start to have an effect, go back to the same thinking that got us into much of this situation in the first place? It was Einstein who said that we can’t solve the problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created the problems.

Business is happening. Certainty is a requirement for growing a business. I know lots of businesses that are busy while experiencing cash flow problems. But the future is uncertain, and as a result there is anxiety and frustration. I talk with business owners expressing anxiety with uncertainty who feel they are alone with this concern. But know this: YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Uncertainty is prevailing, and as a result we are all being conservative in our behavior. But despite the doom-and-gloom messages in the media and the uncertainty, business IS happening. To weather the storm focus your energies on what you CAN do to keep moving forward, focus on your cooperative and mutually beneficial relationships, and keep on keeping on. The storm will not last forever.

Leadership Development Should Be Key Part of Your Small Business Development Strategy

2009-02-20T10:40:00.000-08:00

If you are the leader of a small or medium-sized business, take a lesson from the playbook of large corporations by incorporating leadership development into your on-going business growth strategy. Large corporations weave leadership development into their planning. They consider future leadership requirements for the initiatives they are working on now, as well as the possibilities that can arise from a strong team leadership.

Certainly, the role of the head of a small business differs significantly from that of a larger business. The principal of a small business will be more involved in the day-to-day operation of production, fiscal, system and people management, and sales and marketing, while leaders in large corporation focus on achieving results through other people. Success for the large corporation is accomplished by the integrating leadership development into the strategic mindset at all levels. The growth for a small business to an organization that is both self-sustaining and equity producing also requires strategies for leadership development.

There are several things that the small business owner can do to make leadership development part of their growth process.

1. Make leadership development an integral part of your daily workflow as well as your training and hiring process. Consistently think about getting tasks done by other people as the primary way you do business. This will free you up to be your business’ visionary, keeping your eye on the big picture at all times. Successful large businesses, such as General Electric, IBM and Allied Signal, institutionalized their leader development process across the entire talent cycle from selection, to development and retention.

2. Articulate a vision for your business that is exciting so you can attract top talent. Large companies realize that a lack of talent is the biggest constraint to pursuing growth opportunities and surviving in today’s dynamic world and economic climate. One place to start, if you are uncertain of your firm’s vision, is to describe in what way your best clients – those you most enjoy working for - are better-off because of what you do for them. If you don’t know, you better find out before someone else does.

3. Move from a manager role to an educator role. Teach your leadership team how to run the business, as well as how to develop leaders in their reports. If you don’t the business will never grow beyond your own capabilities and limitations. Great organizations, cultures and communities are built on the wisdom of many. If you are afraid that your employees might walk off with the business, it might be that your vision for yourself and the business is not compelling enough.

4. Create space. Give people roles and let them learn as you did, by trial and error.

5. Look for opportunities that are now available to you because of the new leadership. Look at and plan for the new leadership that is needed for new and potential opportunities.

If Henry Ford had asked his customers ...

2009-01-15T16:03:00.000-08:00

... what they wanted, it would have been a faster horse. A simple yet intriguing statement from Silicon Valley entrepreneur Judy Estrin (Wikipedia for more) in an interview about her new book, Closing the Innovation Gap: Reigniting the Spark of Creativity in a Global Economy. Innovation is the business topic of today. Estrin says innovation is how we are going to close the gap in energy, climate and healthcare, and grow our economy. We have been trained to get close to our customer, to understand what they want and to give it to them. These are all “today” needs. Future growth, which is what Henry Ford did, depends on innovation.

Innovation is the subject of another book in 2008, The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation by A.G. Lafley, Chairman, Proctor and Gamble, and business author, Ram Charan.

Lafley and Charan write that small companies can be effective at innovation because they are nimbler and have a more coherent sense of purpose. Large companies have advantage in having scale, resources and management capabilities. They list principles of innovation to include: motivating purpose and values, stretching goals, choiceful strategies, unique core strengths, enabling structures, consistent and reliable systems, a courageous and connected culture and inspiring leadership.

I work with small service businesses; and would like to hear your thoughts about what innovation means to you as a small business leader.

Reflections On The Way Life Is

2008-12-23T06:51:00.000-08:00

Making a fishing line from a piece of hair, twisting it both sunwise and moonwise. “This is the way life is. We weave together sunrise and moonrise, man and woman, summer and winter, and in that weaving there is life.” - a Mohawk observation/quote.

Being Successful in Today's Economic Situation

2008-12-22T14:18:00.000-08:00

It’s clear that even with the economic situation business is still happening, but the rules are changing. I am hearing good things from businesses and clients that are practicing the following: being positive in their thinking and beliefs, thinking long term, creating alliances, being cooperative rather than competitive, being focused and disciplined, making sure they are providing value, embracing integrity, developing and managing uncertainly, and seeking to become a trusted advisory to their clients.

Where to begin? During this "season of others," as it has been called, who have you helped in the past 24 hours?

Happy Holidays and New Year.

All the best,

Rick

6 Ways I Benefit From My Networking Groups

2006-09-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

I recently responded to a short in-house survey by the Gotham City Networking Group, asking me to identify benefits of belonging to the group. I belong to Gotham and BNI. These comments befit both groups, which meet on a regular basis with the same people. It is like having 25 other people who are sales representatives for me.

1. More business. The main purpose of networking is more business. My networking group provides me with qualified clients and more business.

2. Practice communicating what I do. I am responsible for what other people understand about my services. By standing-up in front of peers every week, and stating what I do succinctly and effectively I have honed my message about the value to I provide.

3. Ability/place to give. An underlying principle of successful networking is givers gain. What goes around comes around. The networking group is a place where I can give unselfishly. I have to sincerely want to give without expecting something back. This, then, requires that I be in this for the long term. It is important to recognize that it is transparent when I am not. And the added benefit is being in a circle that would want to give back to me – no matter how small or large.

4. Meet people who are resources for me and for my clients. My networking groups contain just about every know professional service in my community. If you need something I probably know a person or someone I know can recommend a person to fulfill your need.

5. Expand awareness/knowledge of business activity and types of business. Getting to now all the different professions in my networking group has expanded vastly my understanding of business and business people. The more I know about other products and services the more value I bring to my clients.

6. Practice/improve interpersonal skills. Network is about relationships, which require interpersonal skills. Networking provides the opportunity to practice and improve important interpersonal skills and relationships.

Rainmaking, Personality Traits & 5 Marketing Principles

2006-01-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

I was sending an email to an attorney I met at my recent college alumnae meeting. Being that we went to school on the west coast it was great to see some of the people in NYC. After he spoke about the struggle between getting the work and doing the work, I emailed him about coaching I did with a client who wanted to make partner.

I thought it might be useful reading by others.

Mike.

It was a pleasure to meet you at the alumnae party last week; and it was great to re-connect with the school - being on the other side of the country.

I thought of some of the things you mentioned about feeling you could spend more time marketing your practice, and wondering what you might do. You certainly are not alone when you find yourself more happily doing the work of the practice rather than going out to find new business.

The book I mentioned that I worked thru with a client who was eager to make partner and wanted to be generating his own clients is by Ford Harding. He has a number of “rainmaker” books. The one I know is “Creating Rainmakers.” Harding’s premise is that there is no one way to be a rainmaker, but all rainmakers have a number of personality traits.

They are:

Optimistic. Seeing opportunity in every situation
Driven to make things happen and build their business
Have a system for finding new business
Are good listeners and synthesizers
Never lose track of a client

They are also generally poor mentors, meaning trying to saddle up to a rainmaker to learn how he or she does it doesn’t usually work.

Harding goes on to describe a number of principals:

The Investment Principle. Like compound interest in the bank, the more you have the more you get. The more people you know the more opportunities you get.

The Affinity Principle. A network with people who share business concerns will produce higher returns that a less focused one.

The Numbers Game Principle. You have to pursue many to win a few. If you pursue enough the chance of winning becomes higher.

The Time Allocation Principle. Selling won’ happen unless you make time for it. When my client realized that there were potential clients on his son’s soccer team all prospects went up, thereby combining personal and client development time.

The Accumulation Principle. If you hang onto your current clients while you add more, your business will grow faster than if you do one or the other.

These are just a few of the great ideas in Harding’s book. If I can help in anyway let me know. I am happy to share with you what I can, and if ever want to talk about hiring a coach we can talk about what you want to accomplish with a coach. I teach in the coach training program at NYU, and can help you sort through what type of coach would be best for you. If we seem to work well together that is great, and if I can refer to another you that is good to. If you are learn what you need and are not ready for a coach at this time, that’s okay too.

As a footnote, my client made partner and went on to become the highest biller in his firm later on.

Telling Your Story

2005-12-01T14:14:00.000-08:00

My marketing coach recommended I include this question in a personal interview statement designed to answer questions from potential clients about what I do, my qualifications, how I work, and the benefit they will get from working with me. This question is designed to build trust between the client and the provider. I share it here for that purpose, as well as to present the suggestion to others of preparing a similar response for themselves. It's a part of telling your story, which is a valuable marketing tool.

The question is: How long have you been doing what you do and how did you get to be doing it? Go ahead and send me your statement of how you came to be doing what you do; and I will post here those that I can with or without your name as you like. Email me at raycoach@rcn.com.

My question: How long have you been doing what you do and how did you get to be a coach for legal professional?

While the coaching profession is relatively young, 10 or so years, I have been coaching all my life - from programs I developed as an undergraduate in college to my children’s soccer team. I learned about coaching as a profession in 1997 when I was developing a program to utilize the stimulus of nature (another passion of mine) to help people clarify their vision. I found a mentor who told me that what I was trying to do fell into the realm of a business or personal coach, and with his encouragement I completed training with one of the top coach training institutions in the country. I feel it is what I am supposed to do.

From the start of the training I was required to get clients; and, as they say, I never looked back. I now coach attorneys, small business owners, entrepreneurs and executives. I also now teach in the coach training certificate program at New York University.

As I started to coach, I focused on my experience and knowledge about small business. I have been a small business owner, myself, for over 20 years, and come from a family where my father, his father and his father, as well as all my siblings have been small business owners – a kind of apprenticeship.

I now coach people in the context of their work and remain committed to working with people around their business or profession. The “what do you do” response from the businessperson or entrepreneur always draws my attention. A business, to me, is about providing a service or product, and taking care of a problem or need that someone has; and I never get tired in hearing people’s stories in how they do this.

While a good work-life balance is critical to success – and I have worked successfully with a number of attorneys on their balance issue - business people and professionals spend 50-75% of their life being of direct service to others through work, family and community involvement. For the better or worse, most of this is work and the balance of one’s time is spent eating and sleeping. I love to hear what people do for a living.

I identified a niche of coaching attorneys when I noticed that most of my clients were attorneys, and found working with them to be challenging and rewarding. I find attorneys to be intelligent people, handling complex situations, leading complex lives requiring thought, integrity and understanding of human relationships. Being an integral part in helping people who help others is gratifying. As far as the connection to small business goes, a successful law practices is a small businesses.

Equally exciting, and for the same reasons, I enjoy working with entrepreneurs.

I have a belief about our innate talents and supporting what we well naturally, rather than trying to make improvements in areas that we do not have natural abilities. I became a coach to help others develop and excel at their own strengths – to help people operate from their greatest gifts and talents and be nourished by what they do – so that at the end of the day you are more energized than when you started the day. Coaching does that for me, and I want it for my clients.

Being extraordinary

2005-10-27T20:59:00.000-07:00

I love first times. I was recently asked to write an endorsement for a book – the short words of praise for a book found on the back of the book jacket. That was a first for me. The book “Extraordinary Life Skills” by Mel Arat describes how we can live ordinary, or even less than ordinary lives, and choose to live extraordinary or “supra-ordinary” lives. Mel is from Turkey, and was a student in my “Start Your Own Business” class I teach at New York University.

Mel's book makes sense to me and I was thrilled for the opportunity to write an endorsement. One of the most important and new concepts to me that he presented was a distinction made for the person who is supra-ordinary. A critical trait, he writes, of the supra-ordinary man or woman is that they accept responsibility and are ready to pay for the products and services that they want. Mel calls this the demand, as in an economic sense - creating something that someone else is willing to pay for. It is not about the money, however, but about the effort that is needed to realize the goal. The ordinary person may want something but is not willing to go through the effort required to obtain it fully. It is about money, as well as effort. For the supra-ordinary person money is a tool not an end and will without hesitation pay for what he or she wants in their life in recognition of the person and effort of the person providing the product or service.

I think it applies to all parts of ones life.

First posting

2005-10-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

Writing my first blog, I thought it was important to provide some perspective or background on who I am and why I am writing. I discovered this blogging service from a former client who emailed me after several years of not having spoken with her, and provided a link to her blog. Thank you Monica.

The “about me” took some time in preparing to provide a perspective that I felt was valid and informative, as well as give the reader an understanding of how I might be of help to them.

Over the life span of this blog I expect to be writing about my own learning experiences and awareness, and how it can help others. It will cover issues of visions, goals, balance, money, leadership, networking, rainmaking, and holistic growth – as initial topics.

I will also write about other resources that I find to be particularly useful, and want to pass on including Dave Asomaning, founder of Synchromind (www.synchromind.com), and Robert Middleton, Action Plan Marketing (www.actionplan.com/).

If I can be of assistance I want to. I find that when I am helping someone develop their abilities I feel I am operating from my greatest gifts and natural talents, and at the end of the day I am more energized than when I started the day. I want this for myself and I want it for others.

If you like what I have to say, I would enjoy hearing from you. If I can help you in any specific way let me know and I will try to write about it or, if you prefer, just enjoy what I post.