Yesterday’s Eagle Court reminded me of the last few moments of this short 2 minute video guest post from Tom Peters.

Note for those who might cringe at, be disgusted by or even “hate” the thought of a company earning the “obscene profits” extols: Mr Peters is a Democrat who spoke on the Obama campaign trail in 2008.

Can you imagine watching the heads of 2 political parties would have discussing that? Irony is beautiful sometimes.

My amusement aside, I urge you to take the video deadly serious: Get rid of the “average” stuff/processes/people in your business (or improve them).

Do it with enthusiasm and without prejudice.

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photo credit: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

Ten months of 2009 are gone. Take the pulse of your business and ask yourself: “Is the business where I wanted to be by now?”

Before you think this is all about the finances, it isn’t. It’s all about where you wanted to be. Maybe it’s about finances, but there might be more important indicators. It’s easy to be profitable and still heading in the wrong direction, for example.

If you’re behind, what can do add, change, delete, correct or adjust to get your progress back on track to meet/exceed your business’ goals? Have you actually done what you said you would do? If not, why not?

Not just about Retail

Big retail (and far too much of small retail) looks at these next two months as what gets them into the black. They’ve even named the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” because that’s the shopping day that traditionally moves their business into the black.

While many outside of retail often look at these next two months as throwaways due to the number of holidays, vacations, parties, travel, hunting season and so on – that’d be a mistake.

Likewise, lots of companies put off hiring during these two months (hmm, so NOW till January is the time to pick off the best talent?).

As for the delay, I can find a holiday and related excuses to do that in any month. Why would you do that?

Thank them

In a few weeks, Thanksgiving is coming up in the U.S.

What a great time to take a little time to thank your clientele for their business – just don’t be boring about it and don’t make it a sales call. Whatever you do, do it as a sincere thanks rather than making it ordinary and using it as just another opportunity to pitch everyone.

For Canadian readers who are thinking “Darn, our Thanksgiving was last month”, it’s not too late. Simply acknowledge that you’re a bit tardy so you thought you’d thank them in time for the Americans’ Thanksgiving.

2010

One last thing on this topic – now’s the time to get moving on an assessment of 2009’s successes and failures, and start laying out your 2010 plans and goals. Have your plans and strategies ready for Jan 1 (and start them earlier if it makes sense). Don’t wait until Jan 1 to start this process.

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photo credit: pshutterbug

What does it look like to YOU, that is?

To get where you are going most efficiently, with the least amount of distractions and dead end side trips, a detailed plan is essential.

But it isn’t just about the plan. You have to be able to see the destination in your mind. You have to think through the nuances as well as what impact they have on your journey to get there.

For example, if a made-over store is one of your goals, what does it look like? How is it merchandised? How big is it? What sort of facilities does it have? Where is it? Same place as your current location, or different?

Drilling down beyond that, what will it take to make all those things happen? What specific level of revenue? What staff positions are needed to make this happen? What expertise do you need to learn or pick up via new or newly-trained staff members? Are there new product lines, services or directions that your products/services need to address in order to make all of this happen?

Think about it. Get it down on paper or on your computer – whatever you use to plan projects.

Knowing what success looks like in extraordinary detail will help you build and execute a better plan for getting there.

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I was listening to Sam Clark this morning and he was talking about a group he surveyed about their business habits and noted that 86% of the people surveyed had no plan.

We talked about this when I first heard this comment from Sam a few months ago, but didn’t really press the issue.

Dan Kennedy calls it the “Monday morning reinvention” – where people show up at work Monday morning and start all over again. They sit down, they get coffee, and then they start figuring out what they need to do that week, at least until they’re distracted by a few joke emails or a link to someplace that takes them somewhere else until it’s “suddenly” lunchtime, or mid-afternoon.

Would it shock you to look across the room at 100 people at today’s Rotary Club meeting or Chamber of Commerce lunch and find that only 14 of them are working a plan to get where they want to be.

The other 86 have:

• No plan for today.
• No plan for tomorrow.
• No plan for next week.
• No plan for next month.
• No plan for getting their business, or their part of the business, from where it is today to where it will be tomorrow. A

We all know that you have to plan in order to achieve what you want, so why do so few people do it?

Start today. Don’t give me that “one of these days” comments, or “I’ll start on it next week, it’s too late for this week”.

Do it now. As soon as you finish reading this post.

Why now? I already know you aren’t working – because you’re reading this:)

If you aren’t working a daily or work week plan, take 15-30 minutes or however long it takes and figure out what your most important achievements for this week will be.

Now take a few minutes and figure out what the first few steps are to work toward each one, and start on them. NOW.

As you finish those first few steps, figure out the next few, and then knock them off.

At the end of the day, spend a few minutes planning tomorrow. Repeat it the rest of the week at the end of each day.

If you *are* one of the 14% who are working a plan, don’t forget to re-assess where you are at the end of the day, adjust as necessary and stick to it.

Do what most people aren’t doing. Get what most people arent getting.

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Today’s guest post is from an admitted non-conformist, Chris Guillebeau.

I like his attitude, and I think you might get something from reading his manifesto, A Brief Guide to World Domination, much less some other stuff on his site.

It doesn’t sound much like a business piece, but I think you’ll find it useful in your business and elsewhere once you dive in.

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photo credit: jurvetson

1/4th of 2008 is gone, history, finito.

Are you 25% of the way to completing your 2008 goals?

Did you reach your 1st quarter goals?

If so, use what you learned and achieved to drive your accomplishments to your 2nd quarter goals.

If not, why not? Be honest with yourself.

It’s April 3rd. Don’t wait for tomorrow. Spend a moment blaming that person in the mirror, and then shake it off and get moving.

Get out that Jim Rohn goal planner worksheet (or similar tool – whatever works for you) and get to work.

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