Tag: recession

Fear of Failure, Recession, Bankruptcy … More: The Law of Attraction Is Always Working

Are you one of the hundreds of millions who check the papers, TV, radio or Internet to see how things are going?  Do you decide on how you are feeling by what you read or others talk about?  Do you think the information we receive about our economy, the world, our health, our relationships is the truth or someone’s opinion of reality?

Recently a friend invited me to a restaurant for diner and the owner introduced himself and his wife. His name is Richard.  Richard discovered,  because he asked, that I had some experience with business.  He wondered what I felt about our economy. I said that I didn’t understand why so many perfectly intelligent people decided they were agreeing we were in a recession.  A few reporters decided some numbers suggested that and all of a sudden an entire nation is feeling bad.

I relayed some of my experiences.  I have worked with companies struggling in what reporters labeled boom times. I have also worked with companies doing extremely well in periods labeled as declining, recessionary and so on.  I feel the difference in doing well and not doing well is what we think about, our experience managing changing circumstances and knowing when to request help.

My firm International Resources (www.IRConsultingInc.com) is successful helping companies large and small improve business performance. Nothing is ever stagnant so we work with management so they are better prepared to benefit from positive trends as well as reverse negative one.  If you feel your business could be doing a lot better but you are not sure how to prioritize and structure your company for much higher profits, call me and let’s discuss it.  I am Steve Pohlit and my direct number is 727-587-7871.

If you think about those times when nothing seemed like it could go wrong, how did you feel?  Going deeper what did you think about?  Did your attention give rise to more success or not? In general, I would guess that the upward spiral continued and if you are not in that state now it is because you heard you should be doing worse and feeling bad.

Remember the downward slides?  Maybe you feel you are in one of them now.  You probably recognize that it is your mood that is making the biggest difference.  Look out around you. What do you see? Doom and gloom or prosperity? I feel you see what it is that you want to validate.  if you want to feel that many other people are enjoying their work and their lives, that is what you will see. You can also experience the reverse.

The mood of lenders is restrictive. The mood of  many business leaders is cautious. There is no upside to a corporate or financial institution employee taking any risks right now. Yet the economics of many deals have never been better. There is little or no upside to a reporter publishing any positive economic news. Sensational negative news sells.  Why is that?  I don’t know but if it didn’t sell well it wouldn’t dominate the newspapers and media.

Do you want the recession to be over?  Then declare it is over.  If we don’t stop this insane attitude, we will continue to get more of what we focus on. That is the Law of Attraction.  “The only thing to fear is fear itself” That a famous historical quote. President Roosevelt knew that fear is a powerful emotion that attracts negative results.

Who do you know that sets a great example on a balanced attitude regardless of published economic trends? One of my favorites is Warren Buffet.  He has the long term view and recognizes there can be periods of time that don’t yield the same results as others. He is one of the wealthiest men in the world and goes to work every day because he loves what he does.  I admire his attitude and learn from him and others like him.

So if you have read this far I ask what are you going to do different starting now?  Are you going to stop buying the doom and gloom stories?  Are you going to start developing a stronger and consistent prosperity attitude.  Join me in that mindset, posture and related actions. James Allen wrote “As A Man Thinketh” We move in the direction of our current dominant thought. What direction do you want to move in?  Take your attitude temperature and depending on the reading you can predict where your company, job, finances and relationships are headed. It is all up to you just as it is all  up to me what happens in my life.  When more of us get that, not only will any doom or gloom be over but it won’t happen again.

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit http://www.stevereports.com

Network with me on Facebook: LinkedIn: MySpace: Follow me on Twitter

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Is Your Business Strategy Largely Determined By How You Feel?

How we feel about anything is a great barometer for prioritizing an action plan.  If you feel a major pain in your chest, the actionable options  and the time frame for implementation are generally clear. However, once we move past a life threatening emergency, we have a tendency to not move as purposely.

Why is it that we often take a “let’s see what happens” approach?  Actually there are many reasons. We rely on the news to tell us how we are doing. Currently the news reports the US is in a recession so we decide to accept that and feel bad.  We also decide to live in fear.  We fear lost sales and profits, we fear losing our business or our jobs and more.  This feeling bad or feeling negative state results in us being “off our game”.  Life a professional athlete, we don’t perform to our potential.

There a many companies in a hiring freeze and  have indefinitely suspended pay increases even when they are deserved by a star person’s performance.  The valued employees in place are asked to do more for the same or less pay.  Businesses scale back on marketing programs, investments in technology and in general any spending that seemingly hurts short term cash flow and earnings.

All of these actions and more have a direct negative impact on long term results. When the news tells us things are getting better and we decide to be back “on our game”, we find valuable employees leaving for a better place to work, we find competitors who have become stronger rather than weaker while we were holding back and we find a shortage of excellent outside talent to help us with projects that are now coming out of hibernation.

Does this scenario sound familiar? If you are younger than 25 it may not. But if you are under 25 pay attention and maybe it will be you who will learn from the current economic experiences.  Maybe it will be you who decides there is no law for us ever to be in an economic downturn. There is no  law that requires us to feel bad or be angry about anything.

We have an opportunity at the start of each day to move forward or stagnate and eventually fade away. I suggest you decide right now to move your business forward.

The Top 5 Action Steps For Moving Your Business Forward Starting Today
1. Decide what revenue and profit before tax you want to report for the year ended twelve months from today.
2. Roll those numbers back to what you want to report one month from now and for each subsequent month for this next year. (It makes no difference when you are starting this. Use the twelve month horizon right now.)
3. For the next two months, roll the revenue and profits number back to what your business needs to do each week starting this week to hit your monthly target.
4. Translate your two month weekly and monthly targets into specific action plans with assigned accountability.
5. Measure actual vs. planned performance with close attention to your actual vs. planned cash position. Support and hold people accountable for performance.

Taking purposeful action is the key to moving forward. The alternative is to sit back read the news to find out how good or bad you feel.  Your choice.  (If you would like to discuss these steps and how I have helped companies effectively implement these for long term business performance improvement, contact me at 727-587-7871.)

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit http://www.stevereports.com

Network with me on Facebook: LinkedIn: MySpace: Follow me on Twitter

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Is It A Recession? Is It A Depression? Doesn't Matter ….Stop Your Bitching and Moaning And Take Purposeful Action

The last thing my readers need is another economic analysis report or some suggestion that I or anyone else out there flapping their jaws really know all the facts about the reason for current climate.  Ladies and gentlemen. reading those headlines and spending time analyzing the crap in the news is a monumental waste of God given talent. Stop your bitching and moaning and take responsibility for what you have control over which is your life. All change starts with one person. Do you want to know who that person is?  Look in the mirror.

If your business is suffering, if you have lost your sources of cash flow, if you are feeling tired, down, stressed or in general not very good, recognize this: it is very true that the way you feel is absolutely a direct result of how you think.  Don’t believe it?  OK by me if you want to be a martyr.  For those of you that want to take responsibility here is a quick 5 Step Plan to move forward fast:

A Five Step Speed Action Course For Achieving Your Goals In Changing Economic Times:

1. Recognize that most people you meet and talk to are going to be bitching and moaning about something or multiple things. Don’t play in that sandbox.  There are a small group of people totally optomistic about the unlimited possibilities. These are the people you want to “hang out” with.  So you don’t know anyone like that?  I’ll tell you one source where I have met some wonderful people. Register for an account at www.Facebook.com  and www.twitter.com   You can begin by adding me (Steve Pohlit) as a friend and if you don’t think I am wonderful, you will soon find a large number of people who are.

2. Understand the dynamics of doing business are always changing. Since 1994 with the introduction of the Internet browser, the rate of advancement continues to accelerate. Do you remember a few years ago where Google Adwords was all the rage for on line marketing? Do you know the impact social networking is having on the Adwords market?  When you look at the financial results of Google the impact may not seem obvious because Google is still the 800 pound gorilla.  But if you become active in the social networking markets like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and nearly daily growing rate of others you will see changing trend lines. I recently activated a site www.youtubemastery.net  that begins to teach people how to use video to market their business and products on line. I can’t imagine recommending that even as recently as three years ago. I know at that point there were some progressive internet marketers using video but to encourage brick and morter businesses to use it would not have been very credible for me at that time. Now it would be irresponsible if I didn’t recommend it and teach it.

3. Nothing is the same forever…nothing.  I am very familiar and experienced with using eBay stores as an adjunct to selling physical products using internet sites and retail stores. Several years ago the eBay model seemed to be an unmovable foundation for the auction business. In the last two weeks I was asked for my expert evaluation of a global trading platform that is very popular in the Europe. The person who contacted me was considering making a commitment of money and time to this business that is scheduled to enter the US.  When I started studying this model I was amazed to discover that most of it was a completely new way of lookng at auctions and while I am not personally a person who has an interest spending time on landing an eBay deal,  I can see myself playing in this new areana.  Now since its origin is Europe, I had some difficulty understanding it. Once I thought I “got it” I developed an explanaton which you can see at www.dublian.com   The point is whether you are a multi-billion dollar business, an entrepreneur, or an employeed person with a company you feel is well established for the long term, don’t fall into the trap of complacency.  I’ll bet 6,500 people employed by Wachovia felt their position was secure until they discovered in the papers that their employer lost over $8 billion and was cutting their job. Nothing is permanent.  My strongest advise with every business is the same: be very aggressive in taking care of current customers and growing market share.  Do you think that advice would change under different economic conditions? It hasn’t and it won’t

4. If you are running a business with employees you should be very consistent on your expectatons for performance. It seems that when revenue and profits are under pressure, management starts taking a close look at employee performance. In some cases they don’t even care they just cut.  Just cutting is rarely justified and is analogeous to removing a body part if you want to lose weight. That approach is just plain stupid. There is no change in the guidance here: The formula is A-P=V  which stands for actual minus plan = variance.  There must be a person accountable for each key variance in your business. That is how their performance is measured. Is it a simple as that. Yes and no which is why companies engage my me and my firm for assistance.

5. If you are repsonsible for a business that is really feeling financial and cash flow stress, every day you wait to call for assistance is a waste of very precious time needed to define and execute a turnaround plan. I have written about this before and will write about it again because it is a fact. Please visit www.turnaround-consulting-firm.com or call me direct right now at 727-587-7871.

The blessing of a changing economy is that is results in an opportunity to re-evaulate how you are running your business and your life.  The people reading this either accept that they are responsible for what happens to them or blames everyone else. For a long time I had the mind-set it wasn’t me. Four years ago I concluded that mind-set was completely incorrect.

Accept The Responsibility and Take Action Starting Now!!

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Is It A Recession? Is It A Depression? Doesn’t Matter ….Stop Your Bitching and Moaning And Take Purposeful Action

The last thing my readers need is another economic analysis report or some suggestion that I or anyone else out there flapping their jaws really know all the facts about the reason for current climate.  Ladies and gentlemen. reading those headlines and spending time analyzing the crap in the news is a monumental waste of God given talent. Stop your bitching and moaning and take responsibility for what you have control over which is your life. All change starts with one person. Do you want to know who that person is?  Look in the mirror.

If your business is suffering, if you have lost your sources of cash flow, if you are feeling tired, down, stressed or in general not very good, recognize this: it is very true that the way you feel is absolutely a direct result of how you think.  Don’t believe it?  OK by me if you want to be a martyr.  For those of you that want to take responsibility here is a quick 5 Step Plan to move forward fast:

A Five Step Speed Action Course For Achieving Your Goals In Changing Economic Times:

1. Recognize that most people you meet and talk to are going to be bitching and moaning about something or multiple things. Don’t play in that sandbox.  There are a small group of people totally optomistic about the unlimited possibilities. These are the people you want to “hang out” with.  So you don’t know anyone like that?  I’ll tell you one source where I have met some wonderful people. Register for an account at www.Facebook.com  and www.twitter.com   You can begin by adding me (Steve Pohlit) as a friend and if you don’t think I am wonderful, you will soon find a large number of people who are.

2. Understand the dynamics of doing business are always changing. Since 1994 with the introduction of the Internet browser, the rate of advancement continues to accelerate. Do you remember a few years ago where Google Adwords was all the rage for on line marketing? Do you know the impact social networking is having on the Adwords market?  When you look at the financial results of Google the impact may not seem obvious because Google is still the 800 pound gorilla.  But if you become active in the social networking markets like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and nearly daily growing rate of others you will see changing trend lines. I recently activated a site www.youtubemastery.net  that begins to teach people how to use video to market their business and products on line. I can’t imagine recommending that even as recently as three years ago. I know at that point there were some progressive internet marketers using video but to encourage brick and morter businesses to use it would not have been very credible for me at that time. Now it would be irresponsible if I didn’t recommend it and teach it.

3. Nothing is the same forever…nothing.  I am very familiar and experienced with using eBay stores as an adjunct to selling physical products using internet sites and retail stores. Several years ago the eBay model seemed to be an unmovable foundation for the auction business. In the last two weeks I was asked for my expert evaluation of a global trading platform that is very popular in the Europe. The person who contacted me was considering making a commitment of money and time to this business that is scheduled to enter the US.  When I started studying this model I was amazed to discover that most of it was a completely new way of lookng at auctions and while I am not personally a person who has an interest spending time on landing an eBay deal,  I can see myself playing in this new areana.  Now since its origin is Europe, I had some difficulty understanding it. Once I thought I “got it” I developed an explanaton which you can see at www.dublian.com   The point is whether you are a multi-billion dollar business, an entrepreneur, or an employeed person with a company you feel is well established for the long term, don’t fall into the trap of complacency.  I’ll bet 6,500 people employed by Wachovia felt their position was secure until they discovered in the papers that their employer lost over $8 billion and was cutting their job. Nothing is permanent.  My strongest advise with every business is the same: be very aggressive in taking care of current customers and growing market share.  Do you think that advice would change under different economic conditions? It hasn’t and it won’t

4. If you are running a business with employees you should be very consistent on your expectatons for performance. It seems that when revenue and profits are under pressure, management starts taking a close look at employee performance. In some cases they don’t even care they just cut.  Just cutting is rarely justified and is analogeous to removing a body part if you want to lose weight. That approach is just plain stupid. There is no change in the guidance here: The formula is A-P=V  which stands for actual minus plan = variance.  There must be a person accountable for each key variance in your business. That is how their performance is measured. Is it a simple as that. Yes and no which is why companies engage my me and my firm for assistance.

5. If you are repsonsible for a business that is really feeling financial and cash flow stress, every day you wait to call for assistance is a waste of very precious time needed to define and execute a turnaround plan. I have written about this before and will write about it again because it is a fact. Please visit www.turnaround-consulting-firm.com or call me direct right now at 727-587-7871.

The blessing of a changing economy is that is results in an opportunity to re-evaulate how you are running your business and your life.  The people reading this either accept that they are responsible for what happens to them or blames everyone else. For a long time I had the mind-set it wasn’t me. Four years ago I concluded that mind-set was completely incorrect.

Accept The Responsibility and Take Action Starting Now!!

Sending all my readers the energy of wellness, peace and abundance.

Steve Pohlit
http://www.stevereports.com

Don’t Miss These Free Reports from my new business consulting site:

The Top 10 Action Stops That Will Make Your Business At Least 50% More Money in 90 Days or Less While You Spending Less Time Working Click Here For The Free Report

The Key Issues That Must Be Addressed Before You Buy Any Business of Any Size. Click Here For The Free Report

Steve is the President of International Business Consulting Resources. His firm specializes in guiding companies to rapid increases in revenue and profits with a sustainable growth rate. Don’t miss my FREE Report: How To Make More Money With Your Business Now and Long Term I am building my practice and welcome new client inquiries. Call me for a fee consultation at 727-587-7871 Remember many of my business building articles can be found at Steve Reports and my prosperity building tool (best tool ever for helping you manifest your goals and dreams) is The Prosperity Tool Chest and guiding articles posted very often at Prosperity Tip

Stop Blaming The Economy..Or Anything Else For That Matter

I was using Comment Kahuna to build some back links recently. One of the most valuable features of this free program is that it surfaces some pretty cool high PR sites. Well one of the top financial market blogs had an article by an educator with all the credentials for teaching at a top B School. The article detailed the statistical difference between profit growth and cash flow growth in 2007. The conclusion was that another indicator was pointing to economic doom and gloom.

My response was that this was a perfect example of information that is likely to be completely accurate and totally useless. This is content designed to fuel negative thinking.

The facts are there are successes all around us and we can find them in any country and any economy. There are also companies in trouble and going out of business in any economy. Personally I have worked with business doing extremely well in a recession and ones on the brink of extinction in a booming economy. What are the key characteristics of success in any economy?

Success companies:

1. Have a very clear definition of their customer base and target market

2. Have clearly established performance goals for the company that are then redefined as goals and action plans for each function within the company.

3. Assign accountability for the action steps required to achieve the goals at the functional level.

4. Measure actual vs. plan on a timetable that makes sense based on what is being monitored. Cash position for example may be monitored daily.

5. Act quickly on variances from positive and negative variances from plan.

That is about it and while there is more detail at http://www.10minutemba.net , these five steps apply to every business and the emphasis is on every.

People fall into two categories. They either manage the business using the above five steps or use excuses like: it is the economy, or the dollar, foreighn competition, I don’t feel like it, I can’t expect them to do their job today; or “we’ll get to it soon” Do you want to find the successful businesses? The next time you meet a person who has makes no excuses, doesn’t complain about external factors and is generally on purpose, ask them what business they are in. I’ll bet it is a very successful one.

Steve Pohlit, Business Development Consultant and Coach
http://www.stevereports.com