I am currently working on a business plan with my client, Tony. I have permission from him to share this story. As we were working on the business plan, we started to reminisce about how we became friends. I remember it well.  I had just opened a new recording studio.  One week later, Tony moved in next door to open a new small engine repair shop. My Grammy award winning partner was less than thrilled about the idea of someone revving up lawn mowers while he was recording hit songs. Fortunately, Tony closes his business at 5:00pm, which coincidently happens to be about the same time most of my musician friends are rolling out of bed.  End of that conflict.

Tony is a great guy; he never forgets your name. The moment you meet him you feel like you’re his best friend. When you come to his shop, he drops whatever he’s doing to quickly greet you at your vehicle.  Tony loves his new business. His friendly nature quickly increased the workload. More work kept coming in. Like most optimistic business people, Tony felt he could handle anything. Bring it on. He continued to work harder and harder doing all the repairs while running the business.

As the months passed, Tony became buried in work. He started to fall behind on a lot of the different business tasks he was responsible for. He had to wear too many hats. In less than a year, his business wasn’t fun anymore.  Physically and mentally exhausted, he was ready to throw in the towel. Tony felt defeated and started to make simple mistakes. His phenomenal memory and friendly nature made it easy for people to forgive him, but he couldn’t rely on that for too long.  This is not what he thought owning a business was supposed to be like.

Being a great guy doesn’t qualify you to run a business. If Tony didn’t learn how to run his business soon, he would be in serious trouble. He recognized he needed help. One day he approached me in a panic and asked for help to figure out what to do.  

I jumped right in. I talked to him about business planning and the positive effects it would have on his business. He would have to start seriously thinking about things like sales, marketing, budgets, and schedules. He would need systems and procedures put in place to operate his business more effectively. I promised him that if he did these things, his life would get better and his business would soon be profitable. Tony stopped me there and moaned, “that all sounds great, but could you show me how I can pay my rent next month?” It was then I realized Tony didn’t need a business plan, he needed a survival plan!

Tony wasn’t worried about the future; he was worried about the present. If he couldn’t improve his present situation, there wouldn’t be any future. His problem wasn’t caused by dwindling sales in an ongoing recession, but by not having a plan in place to handle the business he already had. For the survival plan to work, we would have to do a massive amount of triage.

Merriam-Webster defines triage as (paraphrased): the sorting and allocation of treatment to patients of battle or disaster according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors.

Tony’s business was going to need triage and I was going to be chief medical officer. We had to look at all the problems in the business operation. Triage requires quick decisions, and time is critical. To reduce the risks of causalities, we had to rank all the problems in order of their importance and worth. All available resources would have to be allocated correctly. This was a battle for the health of his business.

Business owners like Tony can easily work themselves into a box. The more ineffective the busy work he did, the smaller the box got. He started to feel trapped as the walls closed in on every side. The weight of the box itself was taking him down and his view became so dark that he could see no way out. He became blinded to doing simple tasks that would have relieved a lot of the pressure.

I have a friend who works in the psychiatric ward of a hospital. I asked him to tell me the secret to helping his clients. He told me that he has to get inside his patient’s mind and see the world the way they see it. Once he understands the world from their perspective, he could lead them out into present day reality.

For me to help Tony, I needed to see his perspective on the business. If I correctly understood his world view, I could safely lead him in the right direction; this would save a lot of critical time. I believe a lot of times we prescribe a cure for someone before we understand their view of the problem. We will tell people what they need to do to run a marathon, but if they don’t know how to take their next step, running even a block would seem impossible.

For you to do effective triage:

1-Recognize you are in over your head and cannot solve the problems by yourself.

2-Ask for help from someone who can solve problems.

3-Take time to accurately assess each problem.

4-Prioritize all the tasks to be done.

5-Use all of your available resources to speed up the process.

6-Have faith that your problems can be fixed.

7-Start to fix the problems one at a time.

8-Put systems and procedures in place to make sure you don’t have these same problems in the future.

Times up. In the next article, I will explain the steps we took to gain some sanity in Tony’s life. Tune in next time to….As The Business World Turns. Episode 2, Tony sees the light!

Read About Steve Sorenson

I was talking with my teenage children the other day. The discussion came to money-it always does with children. They wanted more! More than their mother or I was going to give them. It was time for them to find a job. If they could not find a job, then they would have to make one. Everyone can do this, not just teenagers.

I remember looking for work when I was young. The work may have not been romantic or prestigious, but it gave me money. Money allowed me freedom at an early age. Freedom to do the things I wanted to and buy the things my parents wouldn’t get me. I delivered newspapers, mowed lawns, worked on farms, shoveled snow, painted, and many other things. I did whatever I could do to have cash in my pocket.  When someone said they needed something done, I said I could do it. If I didn’t know how to do the job, I found someone to teach me. Some of these jobs turned into full time companies with employees.

How did I get these jobs? I went out knocking on doors. I made phone calls. I talked with whoever would listen. I never gave up. I wanted money, and I was going to find a way to get it. I simply found a need and filled it. There will always be people who need things done for them.  To find out what they need, ask some questions: What chores or service do they need done?  Are you willing to pay me to do them? When would they like them done? Ask these 3 questions long enough and you will be busy.

There are many types of services you could provide at little or no start up costs. Babysitting, pet walking, house sitting, and cleaning are some services. Maybe start a shopping service for people that do not have the time to shop or are unable to do it themselves. Help people sell things on Ebay or Craigslist. Look at doing lawn care, maintenance, message delivery, or vehicle detailing. Any one of these part time activities could easily become a full time business. These full time businesses can provide you with greater security and more enjoyment than you might get working somewhere else.

There are many ways to market your service for little money. Don’t give in to conventional thinking.  You could email your friends and relatives. Tell them what you are doing. Ask if they know of anyone who could use your services. Put an ad in Craigslist. Do not write the ordinary ad, write a great ad! Print cards and fliers on your computer. Hand them out or paste them on bulletin boards around town. Knock on doors. The main thing is to be committed to getting the word out and doing whatever it takes to succeed.

Consider providing these services to businesses as well as homeowners. People are hungry for great service. Providing exceptional service is a key ingredient that will get you repeat customers as well as referrals. There is a lot of competition in giving lousy service, but little or no competition in giving great service.

I have been helping businesses and individuals find work for years. The process is not really that hard.  If you have never done anything like this before, start on a part time basis and see if it is something you want to do. Get creative and get going.
Action steps.
-Find a service people want and are willing to pay for.
-Make an action plan and commit to it.
-Acquire the tools necessary to complete the service.
-Market your service to acquire customers.
-Deliver the service.
-Collect the money.
-Ask for referrals.
-Repeat the process.

If you are willing to do the hard things that most people are unwilling to do, you will be successful. I wish you well. Now if I can only get my teenagers off the computer long enough to do it.

Steve Sorenson is a Wizard of Ads partner living in Hawaii. You may contact him at stevesorenson@wizardofads.com

Read About Steve Sorenson

Do you like the idea of supporting local businesses?

Is that like asking a politician if he’s for more jobs and against crime?

But … and it’s an awfully big but … your locally-owned business has got to meet me MORE than halfway. Sorry if that seems unfair. Heck, it is unfair.

Get over it.

One local restaurant urges folks to get on board to help them beat the chains. “Chains are bad. We are good.” That sorta thing.

To wit:

• Twice before the holidays, I called for delivery and was greeted with ‘hello?’
• Both times, it sounded kind of like I was bothering them by trying to offer them money.
• I asked if I was, indeed, calling the restaurant. Both times, I was greeted with a self-righteous, “yeah.”
• The second time, I was abruptly cut off twice when asking simple questions.
• Neither time did the phone person say ‘thank you’ or ‘good bye.’ Each time, they simply hung up.

Help you beat the chains? Help yourself.

<insert Superfriends transition sounder> Meanwhile …

One of those nasty chains – Target – answered the phone over the holidays at not one, but two different stores in two different towns by nicely saying,

“Hello, this is Target. What can I help you find today?”

That’s right. A real, live, human being person answered. No automated phone tree. Also no hangups or entitled, snippy, self-righteousness.

Target obviously had a system in place. How exactly was that evil? That’s like calling kittens evil.

Your locally-owned business has got to meet me more than halfway.

Or you’ll lose.

It’s not a temporary inconvenience. It’s the new reality of your business, and you best embrace it and – more importantly – develop chain-like, repeatable systems to do it better.

Remember, in this age and day, whether you deliver an exceptionally good or bad experience, social media will only accelerate the inevitable.

And spare me your righteous indignation.

There’s too often a chip on the local shoulder that teeters into defeatist whining. If certain local merchants mustered all that whine-energy and channeled it instead toward improving the customer experience, they’d have much less about which to whine.

I want to celebrate our independents. I really do. I’m sure you feel the same way to one degree or another. Help me, please.

‘Thank you.’

Read About Tim Miles

Anyone Can Accept Mobile Payments With "Square"

Read About Jane Fraser

Separately, the measurement company will announce in the coming weeks a timeline for tracking Web video viewing that will ultimately help media companies and agencies see viewing behavior between the TV and Web more clearly.

The end game would be monetizing Web viewing of TV more effectively as Nielsen prepares to develop a new model for C3, or commercial ratings, that would include shows watched online. The idea of tracking consumers' media habits on TV and online is referred to as single-source measurement. Nielsen already tracks Web viewing, as do ComScore and other players, via separate services that are not associated with its TV sample.

Nielsen held a meeting with clients in October to hear their thoughts on where Nielsen ought to be putting its efforts in terms of tracking single-source Web usage. The overwhelming feedback was that Nielsen move faster.

While the August 2010 target date might be slightly later than some cable entertainment channels had hoped for, since their peak viewing occurs in June, it is still a radical improvement on the previous timeline of year's end. The company will begin adding to the existing 375 TV and PC homes on December 23 and has drafted extra staff in order to meet the more aggressive timeline.

The meters work by requiring panelists to log in so that their every Web move can be attributed to a single individual. The meters will also have the ability to recognize Nielsen's audio codes.

"It is an estimate but we expect to [track] 20,000 people and 7,500 households and they would account for 12,000 computers," said Sara Erichson, president of Media Cleint Services North America, in an interview.

Read About Jane Fraser

Media Technology Monitor (MTM) Top 10 Results (August 2009)

Read About Jane Fraser

I lay flat on my back in my Petoskey, Michigan bed, mucus filling my nostrils, throat and lungs.  A million ice cubes shivered across my skin.  As soon as I wrapped myself in heavy blankets, blistering heat threatened to burn me from the inside out.  Little alien aches turned my body into a pile of ill-fitting bones topped by a pounding head.  My alarm went off.  It was time to get up. 

Talent, skill and marketing tricks fly out the window at times like these.  None of your qualifications matter one bit when adversity puts its hand on your throat and asks why it shouldn't strangle your resolve to keep going.  

“Can't I just call in sick and tell them I can't come?” I thought.  I hadn't slept more than 10 minutes that night, and the thought of driving 5 hours, followed by a couple of plane jumps to Wichita Falls, followed by another restless night didn't sound appealing in my misery.  My emotions told me to hide.  But 150 kids had signed up for me to teach them about creative writing.  I knew that something special would happen if I could just get there.  I rolled my body out of bed and plunged my head under the strange sensations of the shower.

When I was a little boy I loved the cool water in the swimming pool that made Texas summers so much more bearable.  Every time I went to the pool my dad would tell me to swim toward him.  If any of the rest of you have fathers, you know what happened right before I reached him, legs and arms kicking furiously.  He backed up. 

It always made me so angry that he did this, and frustrated and whiny.  I'd push even harder, feeling unjustly made to swim farther than our bargain and slightly afraid that I wouldn't reach his arms.  But I always did.  Years later when I asked him why he always did that, he said, “I wanted you to figure out that you could go farther than you thought you could.”

This morning I was thankful for my father's semi-cruel lesson.  I pulled on some clothes, stuffed my belongings in a bag, checked the directions to the rental car return, ate some granola and fruit, said goodbye to my aunt and uncle after they prayed for me and headed out the door.

As soon as I got within cell phone range I called my girlfriend Vicki.  Talking always keeps me awake on long drives, and she knew that I would need some help this morning.  It felt good knowing I wasn't alone early that morning as I got onto the freeway in Gaylord, Michigan, knowing that I would have to fill up soon, but expecting slightly cheaper gas prices a little further down the interstate.

Twenty miles later the gas light popped on.  “Uh oh,” I said to Vicki.

“What?” she replied, slightly concerned. 

Nothing but slushy snow draped over tall trees filled my view.  “I hope I see a gas station soon,” I said.  Ten miles later I saw my first sign of civilization, billboards.  One of them mentioned something about gas, but it looked to be another 20 miles.  “I hope this little Chevy Aveo gas tank has as big a reserve as my Honda Prelude,” I thought to myself, noticing that I had seen very few cars on this stretch of road.

A mile and a half from the exit for gas, the Aveo expired.  “There it goes,” I said to a concerned Vicki.  Glancing in my rear view mirror I noticed a black SUV about to pass me.  I rolled down my window and frantically waved at them as I pulled over to the side and switched on my hazard lights.  “If I have to walk to the gas station from here I could very possibly miss my flight.”  Off in the distance angel choirs sang as the old, Ford Explorer's brake, and then reverse lights, came on and started getting closer to me.

A smoking cigarette poked through the gaps in his teeth as the driver asked what was wrong.  When I told them I had run out of gas, the younger guy jumped in the back, and I hopped in, never more grateful to have lost my sense of smell.  I said goodbye to Vicki for the moment and my redneck angels, Steve and Mike, drove me to the nearest Citgo and then back to my car with a borrowed plastic container and $5.00 worth of gas. 

“How'd you run out of gas in a Chevy Aveo anyway?” Mike asked.  “Don't those things get like 40 or 50 miles a gallon?”

“This one doesn't,” I said, noting how it had required more frequent fill-ups than I hoped. 

I finished emptying the tank, started the car back up, waved goodbye to Steve and Mike and drove back to the Citgo station to fill the rest of my tank.  Gas here was indeed cheaper than Gaylord, and I had only lost 30 minutes of drive time.  Vicki rejoiced with me as I got back on the road.  A little while later she had to go, and I called my mom for another partner on my adventure while I ate raw spinach leaves to supply my body with nutrition and keep myself awake.  I called a bunch of people that day in my travels, asking them to pray for me or somehow otherwise help me in my quest.  You can't survive if you try to do everything by yourself.

Despite a wrong turn or two I reached the rental car location in time to get a taxi to the airport and make my flight.  I kept worrying that someone at some point would quarantine me for my bloodshot eyes and obvious flu-like symptoms, but no one ever did.  I slept, shivering and sniffling under a blanket, for most of my flight.

Missy Mayfield of the Region 9 Education Service Center greeted me in Wichita Falls, and I explained my sickly appearance.  We both felt confident that once in front of all the kids I'd find the energy to perform and teach.  She offered up a local steakhouse as the place to eat, and after spinach leaves, a salad in the Detroit airport, and the most immunity booster, bee pollen, antioxidant, protein powder supplements ever assembled in a smoothie in the Dallas airport, I decided that I deserved steak.  Mc Bride's Steakhouse didn't disappoint.

That night I crawled into my hotel bed early, and slept for half an hour to an hour at a time.  In the middle of the night I awoke to sheets completely drenched in sweat.  My fever had broke, and I already felt better.  I changed my clothes and got into the dry bed.  An hour or two later I woke again with more wet sheets.  “Can your fever break twice?” I thought as I shifted over to the other side of the bed to find a dry spot.

Morning still came too quickly, but I plunged myself into the magic power of the shower once again, reminded myself that God was with me, and listened to hear Him tell me that He was proud of me.  It always sounds like my dad.

In front of all the kids the workshop went better than expected.  Seventy-five kids from the rural districts around Wichita Falls listened with wide-eyes and then wrote furiously when I asked them.  Their obedience, attentiveness and excitement always amaze me, and I noticed their teachers writing diligently as well. 

When we finished, Missy told me that I had exceeded her expectations.  She told me that one of the kids who had read in front of the class had extreme behavioral problems and almost wasn't allowed to come.  “His teacher said that no one's ever gotten through to him before today.”  A weak smile appeared on my face as I relished the joy of kids inspired and motivated as a result of me deciding not to give up in all the challenges that fought against me reaching the next stop on this adventure of doing what I was made to do.  I would have never made it without lots of help from others along the way. 

Hardship and difficulty will assault you when pursuing whatever road awaits your decision to get out of  bed. 

Talent and ability don't make that decision easier. 

You need a reason that's bigger than yourself and family and friends to multiply the tiny amount of strength you have. 

The world's waiting to hear that story. 

So stick your head under the magic waters of the shower and get ready to live it.

Read About Peter Nevland

 “Your ad spoke to me.  I knew I was the right person for the job.

For a recent job opening at our radio stations we ran an ad on the radio and in the local newspaper that attracted 101 applications in five days. When narrowed down to fifteen for interviews, that was the most common comment.

The key to attracting the right people is how you write the employment ads. Are they written about the job or about the person that you are hoping to attract? We did an informal survey of recent classified ads and found 96% of them were about the job.  An ad stands out from the clutter and generates lots of interest when the ad is about them, not about the job you’re trying to fill.

Here’s the ad we ran:

Are you dependable and resourceful?  Do you have lots of energy, intuition, and initiative?  Are you persnickety for detail? Do you dress well, and have good computer skills?   CJCS/MIX FM is looking for a receptionist and traffic manager.  Not sure what that is, call us and we’ll explain.  We’re looking for a special someone who can greet people in person and on the phone with energy, and with a smile.  It’s a friendly work place, and if you have a sweet tooth, there are always lots of treats.  If you have what it takes call us 555-1234.  

Let’s deconstruct what we did, so you can do it too in your next job search ad. 

We wrote the ad to match the tone of the person we were seeking by using references to energy, well dressed, smile and friendly. By inference, we also defined ourselves and our workplace. We had so many people say that they would “love” to work with us, that it was almost embarrassing. Almost. 

We asked questions to get people saying yes, that’s me. You’ll notice we asked the same thing three times…resourceful, intuition and initiative. Guess what we prize in our staff members? You’ll notice we didn’t explain the job, nor give the address or email contact. That was so the applicants had to show some initiative and figure out how to best apply for the job.

We didn’t want wallflowers, so we asked them to phone us. That showed a willingness to converse on the phone, which is part of the job as receptionist. If they are afraid to talk on the phone we’re not interested. It also gave our staff an opportunity to assess the applications. Our staff’s first impressions and observations are vitally important to the hiring process.

How many job ads have you seen looking for a “detail oriented” person? Ho hum. Boring. “Persnickety for detail” sure made them notice and hopefully smile too.

When you have a job opening that you need to fill, you can choose from 6 or 7 losers who view your job as a dead end time filler or you can choose from 100 applicants energized by the thought of working for you?

It’s more work for you, sifting through the resumes and interviewing, but the results are always more satisfying…and you’ll often find people for future job vacancies too. If you want to attract boring people, write classified ads about the job. But if you want to attract wonder workers, write about the person you want to attract and be persnickety in how you do it.

Read About Steve Rae