What Obama Did Right: Apply that to Your Business
November 5, 2008
Forget for a moment, your political POV, let’s look at Obama’s success and learn from it.
The questions I’d like to explore are:
- What did Obama do right?
- How does that contrast with what the Republicans did?
- Are there lessons to learn for growing a successful business?
Obama reached out to new voters.
McCain did not.
In your business, are you constantly expanding the reach, getting out of your comfort zone to meet and attract new people or are you trying to build your business with the same group of clients?
When Obama reached out to the new voters, he actually spoke directly to the new people and talked to them about how his policies could impact them. He talked about how taxing high income earners would help the middle class by “spreading the wealth” around and he gave specific examples of this by letting people calculate their tax bill on his web site.
Obama Made Benefits Tangible
McCain Made Benefits Abstract
McCain did a lousy of explaining that while an individual’s tax rate may be less under Obama one reason that your tax rates may be lower is that you will have a much higher chance of being unemployed. Examples of this abound under both democrat and republican presidents. Then put a face on it. Explain that a government job is an expense that does not create wealth, but expends it. Put a face on it. Show what welfare did to people under Johnson and his “Great Society.” Put a face on it. They could have gone to the coal mines and asked people how they felt about Obama wanting to bankrupt the companies they work for. They could have gone to PA and asked they felt about their Democratic Congressman Murtha call them racist rednecks. When we talk about offshore drilling, interview employment specialist to talk about how many those workers would make and how many new jobs there would be and what that would do in the specific states for their economy. Interview people that would apply for those jobs.
So, when you have a competitor in your business who does things differently and in a way, that on the surface looks better, but creates long term harm, are you assertive in getting your message across?
When it comes to reaching out for new supporters, Republicans have a ready made base of parents of children in the inner city schools. The schools are horrible in many of these districts and the Democrats consistently stand in the way of Vouchers that would allow any kid to go to any school. But, republicans have not gone into the neighborhoods where the issues are there and speak out.
In your business, are there people that really need your services but to whom you have not taken the time to meet them on their terms?
Obama Saw Himself as a Winner
McCain Saw Himself as an Underdog
The next thing that Obama did really well is that he visualized success. Sometimes his vision bordered on arrogance, but the foundation that visualization (such as the presidential seal on his plane) gave him, far outweighed the perception of arrogance. This centeredness gave him the courage to say, “Yes, I want to spread the wealth!” And that confidence gave his supporters confidence. If McCain had half the confidence that Joe the Plumber had in the American Dream and capitalism, then his message of freedom would have resonated more. However, when he kept pounding away at the “greed on Wall Street,” instead of focusing on the Government regulation that created the problems generated by FNMA and Freddie Mac, that were completely Democrat creations, then by default, he gave away his power to Obama. McCain did not LIVE confidence in his own message.
As a business owner, do you have a product that you believe in? If you do, then visualize success with it – the success of your clients as well as your own success for making it available to them. If you don’t believe in it, then get the hell out of the way.
In summary, reach out to new clients, be specific about how you can benefit them and offer a product or service that you believe in to the core of your being. When you reach out to them, reach out to them on their terms. Reach out to them with something that they want. And finally, reach out to them in confidence.
Coach Chuck
A P.S. to this is in the following link: http://biznik.com/articles/how-email-marketing-just-changed-the-world?utm_source=article_reviews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_review_49
about his internet marketing campaign.
Business Coach Chuck @ 973-670-7215
Attention Deficit Disorder Re-defined for the Business Owner
December 18, 2007
(Don’t worry this is a short article)
Move Over Attention Deficit Disorder -
Here comes the The Multi-stimuli Reactor/processor Business Owner!
(Okay, so sometimes it does get disordered, but we can deal with that – That’s why we have employees!)
As a Business Coach of Small and family businesses I’ve found a disproportionate percentage of clients that, were they in school today, would be labeled ADD. Maybe they were labeled that in school. Maybe you were too. If so, doesn’t it just piss you off that other people don’t think as fast as you do, and then they can’t keep up with you and then they come up with labels to call you because you don’t do things like them.
On the other side, it is also true that this kind of thinking often leaves many things undone, plans with loose ends and a frustration of incompleteness. As with most things, there is a multitude of ways to deal with this. Seldom, however, is the best way to try to stuff yourself into everybody else’s box. Let’s be real. That’s why you are in business for yourself in the first place … there is not a box big enough for you. When some one suggests thinking out of the box, you may very well reply, “What box?”
If this is the case, then building on your strength of being a (let’s ditch the A.D.D. label shall we?) Multi-stimuli Reactor/processor Business Owner, usually requires:
- an acceptance of one’s self, and
- a recognition that we need to hire someone who tilts toward the organizational end,
- but that person also needs the people skills to interpret your vision, and delegate while you are off making tracks in still new directions. [This obviously requires tremendously careful selection in hiring for that particular position as well as absolute mutual respect for differences. This person may have a label or two of his/her own!]
Ok. That’s it. I’m done. Bye … I see you’re off already. Gimme me a call, I can help.
Coach Chuck
Business Coach Chuck @ 973-670-7215
Getting Hardnosed about the Soft Side of Business
November 27, 2007
When involved in a business transition, the business owner typically focuses on:
· What’s the bottom line?
· Cut to the chase – what are the numbers?
Unless the transition that we are talking about is the sale of the business, for which the owner is going to get cash, the bottom line is only one snapshot in a dynamic moment in time. “The Bottom Line,” that which we tend to be hardnosed about, is the result of everything that is done and market conditions and all kinds of “The Soft Side” of business.
Business transitions are as simple as moving from one business season to the next and as complex as purchasing a business to merge with an ongoing business. A Business transition may be creating sales oriented staff from a group that is currently task oriented. A transition may be selling the business wherein the owner is going to get paid over time or buying a business where you are going to pay over time. A transition is any change in business. When there is a change there is a transition. The one thing we can rely upon is change. Therefore, transition is part of business. The more that transition is built into the business, the faster reaction time the business can have.
So, what does a transition business coach do? We get very clear about what the business owner wants to transition into. We get very clear about what the reality of the situation is presently. We get a handle on what is going to be required to make that transition. What is going to need to be different? Then we coach toward an assessment of the current staff, clients, market, vendors or who or whatever is relevant to that change. Included in this coaching process are the vision, mission and intention of the owner and key players.
The result will be a strengths and needs assessment along with a strategy and coaching toward implementation for the soft side of business transition. Additionally, the foundation will be in place for the recognition of ongoing transition so that change, in the future will be an ongoing intentional part of business rather than being treated as a problem.
Cutting to the chase, the point of all of this is, of course, a better bottom line!!
Coach Chuck973-670-7215
You and Your Business
April 27, 2007
Maybe you already know: being good at what you
do and running a business are two different things.
If you don’t already know that, I’ll tell you:
being good at what you do and running a business are two different things.
If you already knew that, great. If you didn’t, now you do.
What do you do with that information?
There are many great systems on how to build a business.
Google “how to Run a business” and there are 323,000,000 listings. Many are very
good. Some are great. Intuit has great resources, the book E-myth is great.
But, how are YOU going to run a
business? In other words, let us assume that you find a good book
or program that teaches you how to create
a business,
How is the unique YOU, not some generic you,
but YOU, going to work this great plan? Most people in small
business that get to a suitable answer to this question, get there having been
beaten into submission by the grim facts of life that confront the business
owner that doesn’t build plan and do the plan.
Would you like to get there before the business beats
you into submission.
OR
Maybe you already have been beaten into
submission and that is why you are reading this now.
This is what coaching is about. It is about you. It is about business
and getting you, the unique you, to build your business.
My coaching service is geared for you:
- Results oriented
- fairly priced
- highly personalized
Whether you are ready to get off to a great start or ready to stop the pain
and really do it different this time, Coach chuck will coach you toward your
vision.
Coach Chuck
973-670-7215
Take the Next Step to Your Picture of Success
Go To – www.businesscoachchuck.com.
- for details of Coach Chuck’s business coaching services and fees.
Take a Test Drive – Call now for your FREE 30-minute exploratory consultation -
Call 973-670-7215 and set up an appointment. There is never any pressure.
Or e-mail me –
chuck@businesscoachchuck.com. Please provide three dates and times
that would be a good time to call you. I will return the e-mail with a confirmed
appointment time.
Vision
April 17, 2007
“We are always successful.” – Maxwell Maltz
This means
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we are successful at what we really see happening.
This means:
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It is important to develop a vision rather than letting it happen.
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Fear is our first reaction to change. The second reaction is our choice. Without activation of choice, fear, de facto, becomes vision.
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We, with our powerful brain of our always have a vision.
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Our brain knows where it is going.
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The goal is to bring our whole self, including our brain, into alignment.
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Bring your goals and your vision together.
If you want to make more money and to have a better relationship with your spouse and start the day knowing that things at work are a mess and old issues are suffocating your love life: it is going to be ugly.
On the other hand if you wake up knowing that today is going to be successful and that you have a loving relationship with another caring person, all kinds of doors will open. They may not be the ones you expect. Without the expectation of positive outcome the likelihood of seeing the open doors are remote and the likelihood of walking through them is remoter still.
Vision is the GPS (global positioning system) of your brain. Vision is how you know where to go. So, if you envision failure, your brain will, with all due obedience, open the door to all the opportunities that you need in order to fail. It is trained on that spot.
Vision is what you actually know is going to happen.
So, right now, you may know that if you don’t do x, y and z this terrible thing is going to happen. It is time to develop a new vision. Write it down. Shape it. As the song says, “Make it real or forget about it.”
One of the things that I do with clients is help them to get very clear about what they believe to be true and what they want.
Getting our beliefs and our wants together as one is how we set our own GPS.
Develop effective goals.
Coach Chuck
973-670-7215
To learn more go to www.businesscoachchuck.com.
Take a Test Drive – Call now for your FREE 30-minute exploratory consultation – Call 973-670-7215 and set up an appointment. There is never any pressure.
Or e-mail me – chuck@businesscoachchuck.com. Please provide three dates and times that would be a good time to call you. I will return the e-mail with a confirmed appointment time.
Not This Again
May 8, 2006
Yes, that is where we often find ourselves – back in the same place again after having said again and again, “never again!”
And then the committees form in the head:
“We told you so.”
“Back again, huh.”
“Loser.”
And then there is the thought that if people really knew the real you they wouldn’t like, do business with, hire, love or whatever it is you’d like them to do with and for you.
How do we get in these positions? Sometimes that is an important question and sometimes it is not. Sometimes trying to figure it all out is just our ego trying to rationalize something that we know is wrong. One day in New York, I got out of the Subway on 57TH Street. I needed to go to some street in the Mid-sixties. It was a stop I’d been in before so I really wasn’t paying attention, with my mind more on some project. So as I’m walking along in my own world, at some point I looked up to see what street I was on and I was on 49TH. Obviously, you say, I’d gone the wrong way. I found myself standing, looking at that sign, mentally telling myself I knew I’d gone the right way and giving myself reasons for why I came out of the subway the way that I did. Then I Just cracked up laughing at myself. “Hey brainiac – the sign says 49. You are going the wrong way. Turn around.” I became very amused at myself for the way that I tried to rationalize something that was so obviously wrong. Why I went the wrong way is not important.
On the other hand, if I find myself, for instance, always scrambling to get my bills paid regardless of whether I make a lot of money or a little – that is something that is a bigger problem, over and above simply not having enough money. Were it a simple problem, more money would solve the problem. In order to have a better life with more money requires a change in life-long ways of doing things.
How great would it be to say – “never again!” And be confident that that were true.
Cw Markham
4/28/06
Coach Chuck
973-670-7215
Take the Next Step to Your Picture of Success
Go To – www.businesscoachchuck.com. – for details of Coach Chuck’s business coaching services and fees.
Take a Test Drive – Call now for your FREE 30-minute exploratory consultation – Call 973-670-7215 and set up an appointment. There is never any pressure.
Or e-mail me – chuck@businesscoachchuck.com. Please provide three dates and times that would be a good time to call you. I will return the e-mail with a confirmed appointment time.
©2007 Charles W. Markham MA. You may not copy, reproduce, post or forward this document in any format. For permission or joint venture opportunities contact Chuck Markham at chuck@businesscoachchuck.com.
What is the GPS and Why is it Important
May 8, 2006
The GPS goes to the very heart of the coaching experience. Like the any Global Positioning System, it establishes where we are. Like the GPS in your car, it is also where we set our destination. Where do we want to go? Like the GPS, when we set it, it is set without judgment. We don’t care. As an Author of the Law of Attraction says, the GPS does not make fun of you for having tried to get there before, or remind you what you mother thinks of you wanting to go there or that your neighbors would or would not approve. We are simply setting the GPS for a particular destination.
When we know where we want to go, most of us know generally what we need to do to get there. By the time we’ve sought help, we’ve tried to get there already and for one reason or another have not been successful. As a coach our goal is to help you to stay the course, make adjustments to the planned route where needed and to keep moving. Along the way, we may run into obstacles that are very old which may require counseling. That is a great opportunity. Our Challenges are our greatest opportunity. If counseling is needed we will recommend that it happen parallel, but different than coaching. When all of this works together, we learn that our challenges, our difficulties are, in fact, our greatest assets, because once they are overcome, the experience of that success can be leveraged in ways that are incalculable from the position before the experience. RD Lang referred to experience as something that changes us. Coaching is an experience. Coaching attempts to move us to places we have sensed but been unable to reach. The GPS is set, regardless of obstacles, we keep moving in that direction
Coach Chuck
Coach Chuck
973-670-7215
Take the Next Step to Your Picture of Success
Go To – www.businesscoachchuck.com. – for details of Coach Chuck’s business coaching services and fees.
Take a Test Drive – Call now for your FREE 30-minute exploratory consultation – Call 973-670-7215 and set up an appointment. There is never any pressure.
Or e-mail me – chuck@businesscoachchuck.com. Please provide three dates and times that would be a good time to call you. I will return the e-mail with a confirmed appointment time.
©2007 Charles W. Markham MA. You may not copy, reproduce, post or forward this document in any format. For permission or joint venture opportunities contact Chuck Markham at chuck@businesscoachchuck.com.
