So much has already been said with regard to the horrific incidents in N.Y. and Washington that I am hesitant to even broach the subject. While I thankfully did not have anyone close to me killed or injured in the blasts, I offer my sincerest condolences to those who have.

I do however feel a personal assault in that I spent quite a bit of time in these buildings when I was working with the consulting firm Walker Group International. My client, American Express, had offices at One World Trade Center. I would ride the elevator to the 76th floor and marvel at that incredible structure. I remember the folks at American Express teasing me the first time I felt the building sway. They told me it was going to tip over and they got a big laugh out of my reaction.I am saddened by the loss and like many others, angry enough to take up arms and fight back. But I’m sure our military will do just fine without my assistance. After thinking about this however, I have come to the conclusion that there is another way that we can fight back.Our enemies are expecting us to cower, cringe and shrink. Their goal is to destroy our economy, crush our way of life and show the world the folly of Western civilization. But we can deal them a powerful blow. We can push this economy up a notch. That’s right, we can turn our depressed economy and somber demeanor into a time of unprecedented prosperity. How confident are you in America? Are you confident enough to put your money where your mouth is?Up until Tuesday morning many small businesses and entrepreneurs had plans of expansion, reinvestment and improvement. As a result of the events this week some may plan to delay expansion and take a “wait and see” attitude. This may appear to be prudent at first glance but the impact on our economy would be even more disastrous than this week’s horrific events. This would be caving in to these fanatics. It would be granting them the provocation of “terror” that they so deeply desire.DON’T LET THEM WIN!Make the decision to fight back.How?1. Plan even greater expansion of your business. Small business drives this economy. Your positive actions will fuel economic growth and confidence.2. Don’t cancel planned initiatives. Go to those trade shows. Buy that new software. Hire those people. Launch that new marketing campaign. Place those new ads. Push for greater market share.3. Speak confidently about our future. Tell your clients, vendors, employees, colleagues, friends, neighbors and relatives that everything will be OK – nay in fact – BETTER than before. Let the words you speak be evidence of your confidence and determination.4. Buy stocks. Support every company you believe in. Execute those trades early and often. If our markets soar on Monday, we will stun the world and prove that we are serious. That message will be very clear: If you want your fortune to be safe, invest it in America and its industry.My small business friends, this is the clearest message Americans can send the world. It says that we are determined not to be pushed around. We will put our money where our mouths are and stand up for our economy. We will stand behind our way of life, which is exactly what the enemy aimed at when they flew those planes into the World Trade Center buildings.We are not helpless! Let’s support our military in their fight with their weapons of destruction. But let us fight with what we have: our wealth and determination. This may be as close as we can get to pulling the trigger on our enemies.

Any major transformation within a company will awaken “change.” This change creates emotions and fears among the members of the organization.

Change is stressful. But stress is a stimulus that can be positive or negative. Studies have shown that stress in the workplace most commonly occurs in one of three situations:

1. When there is a high demand placed on employees
2. When employees are being closely watched
3. When employees are concerned about their competence

As a leaders it is our job to quell those fears. When we operate in the management role we must balance our passion, execution and sensitivity. It is good to be passionate about where we are taking our organization. But even more important is translating this belief into action. Taking part in the execution process makes a big statement to your team. The best generals have led their troops into battle at the FRONT of the lines. You won’t win cooperation by calling the plays from the sidelines. This will create resentment and reduce morale. Finally be sensitive to the emotional and behavioral issues involved in change. Get in touch with how the change is affecting each of the critical members of your organization.In order to truly put these precepts into practice, we need to understand the way change works. As Jeanie Daniel Duck says in her book, “The Change Monster,” organizational change consists of five basic stages:

1. Stagnation
2. Preparation
3. Implementation
4. Determination
5. Fruition

Stage 1: Stagnation
This first phase can be summed up in two words: demoralization and denial. A demoralized company exhibits the same symptoms as a depressed person: general slowness, difficulty in making decisions, and a lack of motivation. Stagnation can be caused by poor strategy, lack of leadership, too few resources, conflicting goals or poor execution. Before you can implement a sound strategy, however, you have to modify the culture of the company – it’s beliefs, attitudes and habits. In most cases these are the elements hindering growth. To burst free of stagnation, you need to ask yourself: “What outdated beliefs and behaviors are preventing us from conceiving or executing a winning strategy?”Stage 2: Preparation
During this stage, many operational issues are addressed. This often results in a new structure for the organization, new employee roles. New responsibilities are designed, and management determines which products or services will be most critical in the future. The goal in this stage is to align and energize our management team around a corporate strategy and vision. As leaders we must all consistently articulate the SAME vision. In other words, we all need to be on the same page as to where we’re going and how we plan on getting there. Only then will it be clearly understood and executed by others. We also need to be careful of becoming too dictatorial with our precepts. The goal is to develop a group thinking about change. This can’t happen if the leader isn’t open to hearing criticism of his or her ideas.Stage 3: Implementation
Implementation is different in every organization. Leaders are responsible during the implementation phase for managing expectations, energy and experience. Asking people to change can create resentment, embarrassment and tension. Here are some ideas to reduce the barriers to change among team members:

• Test before deployment – If a new process is being implemented, try it in one department or with one product or service group before rolling it out.
• Build behavior first – Focus on a SINGLE OBJECTIVE and ask the employees for input. This allows us to empower our team by letting them SHOW YOU how they can come up with the solution.
• Plan replication – Duplicate your successes. Transferring change from person to person takes time. Let change spread rather than forcing it on your team.

Stage 4: Determination
Because change does take time, many of the former champions of change may have developed second thoughts. At this time it is not unusual to see conflicts arise as a result of change. Often service levels drop, sales falter, production problems deepen, and profitability wavers. It is critical that leaders have the determination to see change through. We can be tempted to throw up our hands and say, “That’s it! We’re going back to the way it was. Nobody is doing what we told them to do!” Don’t mistake your own perceptions for reality. People are finding a new way to accomplish their goals. One that is more dependent on their efforts rather than their leaders support. Conflict is not necessarily bad. Conflict produces change, a reorganization of priorities and self sufficiency.Stage 5: Fruition
No change is easy. But achieving long-sought-after goals is rewarding. Once a targeted goal is reached, success often begets success. This is the time to reward people for their success. Reward in public and punish in private. The great Dale Carnegie said, “Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.” Also, put your money where your mouth is. Give performance bonuses based on achieving specific goals

Are You Waiting…

for someone to lead and inspire you?
for the boss to recognize you?
for clients to thank you?
for coworkers to help you?
for prospects to find you?
for the world to hail you?Well here’s a news flash…. They are all just sitting there waiting for you.Someone recently asked me, what I felt was the biggest challenge for marketers today? My answer was complacency. Websters dictionary defines complacency as contentment and self satisfaction. You might say, “Hey hold on there Deo! Isn’t that what we are striving for as entrepreneurs and small business owners? Shouldn’t it be our ultimate goal to be content and satisfied with our business, finances, family and life?”I say, NO.When we become content and satisfied, we no longer have any motivation to get better.We drop our guard. We become OK with achieving the minimum. Unfortunately in today’s competitive environment achieving the “minimum” in the short term may just not be good enough to “survive” in the long term. This can be very dangerous in the fast paced, high risk, volatile economy of the 21st century. You may be thinking, “that sounds a little scary, Mark.”It is.Many people today are saying that fear is bad. I agree that too much fear can be debilitating, just as a complete lack of satisfaction can create disappointment and disillusionment. There are no absolutes. But if we completely eliminate fear from our lives, we lose some of our most base instincts. Think about when you first started your business or your first day on the job. Weren’t you a bit apprehensive? Didn’t you have some fear? You probably found yourself asking questions like, what if this doesn’t work? What will I do if I fail? What if my coworkers or clients don’t like me? Can I really compete? Do I really have the skills necessary to succeed at this?I think you would agree that this is the GOOD kind of fear. The fear that drives us to greater levels of performance. Fear that motivates us. It’s the kind of fear that makes us have more apprehension for things staying the way they are rather than bringing about change.What does this have to do with marketing, you might ask. Successful marketing must allow us to significantly differentiate ourselves from our competition. We need to look different, sound different and be different. We need to go beyond the expectations of our clients and prospects. We must be willing to always be a bit uncomfortable with the way things ARE if we want to change. We can not be content with waiting for change. We can not be satisfied with the most comfortable option.Here are some very specific things that you can do to make fear the friend that you consistently court, rather than the foe that you chronically avoid:

1. When things look bleak don’t deny reality, accept it and begin to develop some options. Write them down and take action to change things rather than waiting for them to get better.
2. Don’t allow yourself to be forced into change. Make the decision to bring about change BEFORE you are swept-up in the maelstrom.
3. Find someone that you can mentor. Taking this leadership role with even just one person will allow you to see the power of fear and change in another person. In the end, this will make it much easier for you to cope with fear and embrace change.
4. Look for situations where others are positively dealing with fear and change. Give them the recognition they deserve for coping with their changing environment. This will reinforce your own values.
5. Change the way you celebrate achievements.Typically, we set goals, we work hard at achieving them, we reach them and we celebrate. We are content and satisfied with a job well done. Hopefully when the party’s over we set new goals and the cycle starts all over again. But shouldn’t we be setting new goals BEFORE we pop the cork on the Champaign?
6. Be an evangelist for your company, product or service. Ask yourself, how YOU change peoples lives for the better. Focus on this. NOT features and benefits.
7. Be a catalyst for change with everyone that you meet. Look for ways that you can help them to cope with the fear and change in their lives.
8. Don’t try to eliminate all stress in your life. Like my old boss, Sue Schneider used to say, “Stress is good, DISTRESS is bad.” If we try to completely eliminate stress and fear in our lives we will be sadly disappointed. On the other hand if we find ways of coping with stress and fear, we will amass for ourselves resources of great value.
9. Be the first. Decide from this day forward that YOU will be the first to initiate change in your organization and even at home. You will lead and inspire. You will give compliments and provide recognition. You will thank your clients and vendors. You will lend a hand to help fellow workers. You will seek prospects whose businesses and lives can be improved by your company, product or service.

This week, we wanted to provide you with three quick tips that can help your business and expand your thinking. They revolve around your cash flow, thinking non-traditionally, and becoming a master at collaboration.

1. Know your cash position at all times! More important than your profit and loss statement is your cash flow statement. Many companies can operate at a loss for years if they’re able to manage their cash flow. Know your projected flow at least 3 months from now. If you have a solid grasp on your income and expenses, you have a much higher chance of survival!
2. Think non-traditional sales and marketing. Most advertising does not work. Think of your last encounter with a salesperson. Traditional selling often pushes more people away than it attracts. Use the Internet, search engines, affiliates and alliance relationships to effectively build your business rather than running ads.
3. Become a master of collaboration. You may not have the right answer or solution for your clients but chances are someone within your organization or within your sphere of influence DOES. When we collaborate we broaden our expertise and are able to deliver more effective products and services to our clients.

Listen to the Small Business Hour this Friday at 4 pm PST. We will be interviewing Dr. Brad Smart, author of the bestselling book: Topgrading. He will be discussing how to attract and retain 90% “A players” in your company, eliminating unproductive workforces. In addition, we will have our Marketing Corner, Leadership Lesson, and much more. This will be an exciting show! If you can’t listen live, you can listen to a replay at any time online. Go to www.smallbusinesshour.comto tune in.

One late autumn evening a father came into his home with a small gift, which he partly concealed in his hands. Before his two sons could see what it was, he tossed it into the air. Instead of falling to the floor, as expected, it flew across the room till it struck the ceiling, where it fluttered awhile, and finally sank to the floor. It was a little toy, known to scientists of the time as a “helicopter.” It was so delicate that it lasted only a short time in the hands of the two small boys, but its memory was abiding.

Later in the late 1800s the boys faced difficult economic times, fierce competition in the bicycle business (they couldn’t give them away), not to mention being the laughing stock of all of Ohio. But in 1904 they revolutionized the world by creating the first flying machine. They were willing to risk ridicule. They were willing to risk the very high likelihood of failure. They were willing to risk profitable careers and pursue a hobby that started with a childhood toy! Yet if not for the risks they embraced, our world would be a very different place today. The boys were young Orville and Wilbur Wright.I will always remember visiting the Edison Tower in Menlo Park, New Jersey where I grew up as a child. At the top of the tower is a replica of Thomas Edison’s workroom. It is filled with all kinds of inventions, most of which are, to this day, useless artifacts. While in Menlo Park, Edison received over 400 patents on items, which were never put into production. In short they were failures. But Edison thought of these disasters as learning opportunities.One time his lab stove went out in the dead of winter. Many expensive chemicals froze. Another time unprotected chemicals were damaged by sunlight. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Edison stopped all other projects and thought of ways to solve the problem. He learned to change the makeup of some of the chemicals. He was not afraid to take risks and he never gave up when a project failed. Few people know that Edison started hundreds of companies between 1868 and 1928. Most of them were failures. But he would brush himself off and start something new. Edison learned that risk-taking was a good thing. He learned that without taking risk he could not achieve success. He learned that it’s okay to fail. That failing is not the end. It is rather a new beginningWhen did RISK in our society become a four-letter word? Maybe it was after the dot-com implosion or the tragedy of 9 -11 or the Enron debacle. Whatever the reason, “risk” has become a dirty little four-letter word in our business culture today.A few weeks ago I talked about how we should go “one step beyond” with our business initiatives. It takes the commitment to exceed the performance of yesterday to succeed tomorrow. But it also requires that we be willing to take reasonable or even sometimes unreasonable risks. Was it reasonable that the Wright brothers would create a machine that could fly in 1904? Was it reasonable for Edison to say in 1876 that, “in the future electric light will be so cheap that only that wealthy will be able to afford candles?” Likely not. Both Edison and the Wright brothers knew that without risk, there is no reward. Are we any different today? Can we really afford to hunker down and take a “wait and see” attitude when technology, the marketplace and the world around us changing faster than ever before? I think not.As I have said in the past, playing it safe isn’t necessarily playing it smart – even in cautious times. Don’t be afraid of risk. To not take a risk is to risk being ignored. “Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice. It’s not a thing to be waited for, it’s a thing to be achieved.” Let’s go from a “risk aversion” business culture to a risk sharing and reward innovation culture.In short, risk-taking is as much a part of good management as smart product development, effective marketing and strong leadership.

In a previous article I talked about how we need to get back to basics by adding value for our clients. I mentioned that I would be discussing the specifics of HOW we can do this at my all-day entrepreneurial workshop. As a result I received a number new registrations for the workshop, but I also received a few emails from people asking for more specifics about the content of the workshop.

The 5 Recession-Proof Management Strategies1. Have a Clear Destination 
Develop an exit plan first. This will help establish long, mid and short-term goals Decide on what you will do to proactively position your product or service this year. Have a plan to finance new initiatives and contingencies if you don’t get the cash If you’re a start up, have a professionally developed written business plan with quarterly goals that you can review in just 15 minutes every week.2. Do the Job of 2 People in Half the Time 
Do the most difficult things first. Do two things at the same time whenever possible Set aside time specifically for “planning your time.” Balance the various activities in your life based on their importance to you.3. Put Everything in Order 
Establish a place for everything and always keep everything in that place Make kinetic economy work for you. This is the process of accomplishing the maximum amount of activity by expending the minimum amount of energy. Make a commitment to improve your organizational skills Establish systems and hold people accountable to working within them.4. Automate or Stagnate 
Calculate your rate of pay by activity. Are you paying yourself $100/hr to perform secretarial functions? Enjoy the efficiencies of off-the-shelf technologies like ACT!, Goldmine, Outlook, QuickBooks, Filemaker, etc. Put in place automated electronic solutions that will save you time and money. Use the Internet to gain efficiencies like online inventory reconciliation, credit card and check processing gateways.5. Outsource and Delegate 
Make sure that your outsourcing plan ensures residual profit, productive efficiencies and added value for your customers Decide on a delegation management, exclusivity, royalties and compensation strategy UPFRONT. Tie alliance-partners into the client’s ultimate goal and establish a system of accountability. Take the time to understand their participation and have a contingency to get the job done in a pinch.The 4 Recession-Proof Financial Strategies1. Don’t Get Bought Cheap
Develop and stick to a firm pricing strategy and don’t be afraid to communicate it with confidence. Understand your competition, why they exist and why their customer’s prefer them over you. Know when to walk away. Know your profit margin by product, service and customer.2. Make Cash – KING! 
Learn why the biggest reason businesses fail is because of cash flow. Develop a system to understand your cash flow on a weekly basis. You may be profitable, but if you are cash poor the party’s over. Develop a 6 month cash flow forecast that you can view DAILY so you always know where you stand. Plan for and track EVERY expense and conservatively estimate your income in your cash management system.3. Reserve Planning 
Develop “cash contingencies” and have a cash back-up plan for 6 months at all times. Establish a separate investment and bank account to plan for specific business and personal reserves. Develop an operating budget and live to it. If you have department heads establish the budget WITH them and hold them accountable to performance weekly. Establish a reserve for planned initiatives like marketing campaigns, expansion, capital equipment and so on. Limit “leveraged” expansion in the early stages but take advantage of attractive finance options as your credit history improves.4. Plan to Pay Yourself Back
Put a price on your exit and start a reserve to facilitate it as early as possible Invest in your future. Focus on initiatives that build equity as well as “cash cows.” Have a diversified investment strategy and communicate with more than one investment counselor Develop a residual income stream.The 6 Recession-Proof Marketing Strategies1. Be a Giver 
Understand why your customers are more selective than ever before. Use informational marketing to your benefit. How will you repetitively deliver your message yet include value for your clients? Decide on a media or mediums that you will use to deliver your message.2. Out-Market Your Competition 
Be different – Count the ways that you will you set yourself apart from the competition.Talk louder – Not in an obnoxious way but in an authoritative way. How will you establish authority?Focus your reach – Why its better for you to be more important to fewer people than just another option for everyone. Be an evangelist for your business and industry3. Be an Influencer NOT a Salesperson 
Develop a unique selling proposition for your business, product or service – something ONLY you offer. Talk less and ask more preplanned, directive questions when speaking with customers. Focus on WHY your customers need the benefits of your product or service rather than just the specific benefit they will receive. In other words: how will you change their life? Don’t be too anxious to tell people why you are better. Find creative ways to make them come to that conclusion on their own.4. Communicate Consistently 
Have a system of contact archiving, reporting, and management. Make using some kind of contact management system a daily habit. Craft a provocative, inspirational message to be delivered to clients and prospects in a unique way. Be creative and proactive in developing “reasons” to communicate with your customer.
 5. Use the Web to “Touch” your Customers
Develop a personalized web presence. Make it a reflection of WHO you are rather than just WHAT you do. Make your web site more than just an on-line brochure. Include content such as educational information and valuable advise from experts in the field. Build-in some interactive value-added features like an exclusive member’s area, chat room, forum postings, on-line reports and weekly or monthly newsletter Incorporate e-commerce features such as an on-line store, order tracking system, and purchase history features.6. Extend Your Reach 
Develop a profile of potential collaborators. Identify at least 5 non-competitive partners that you can collaborate with and a pre-approach plan. Pick only the very best people in each area. Be very selective. Do NOT compromise on values or philosophy.  Ensure that there is mutual benefit. A one sided relationship will only breed resentment and contempt.These 15 recession-proof strategies can transform your business, capture greater market share, improve your profitability, help you start a new business and reduce your financial risk in this difficult economy. But they are just NICE IDEAS until we put them into action.Also give yourself every opportunity for success this year. Check out our web site for our next Entrepreneurial Workshop and get pre-registered. If nothing else I guarantee that it will be a great way to start the year with a positive first step.Those of you that have attended any of my classes know that they are energy packed and you walk out motivated and cranked-up! You DO NOT have to be the victim of a “slowing economy,” an “economic downturn,” or what the media calls a “recession.”