Business Success Center

Proven programs that grow great businesses for great people who care.

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Scary Business

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I was just interviewed by Patricia Rogers of the Austin Business Journal . Ms. Rogers is the List Director for ABJ, writes the Growth Strategies and does some wonderful  profiles. She asked me a lot of good questions and I learned something about her. She’s from Houston, we share a love of animals especially horses, and, luckily for Austin, she didn’t follow the advice of her uncle to stay out of journalism (he was a journalist in Houston).

What's your scariest business moment. Mine? No one would show for a seminar I was giving. Photo from Flickr by Aunt Owwee

What’s your scariest business moment. Mine? No one would show for a seminar I was giving. Photo from Flickr by Aunt Owwee

One question she didn’t ask was about a scary moment in business. Mine was scary and the most fun. Last March I did a program for SXSW “Networking for Introverts”. Why was I concerned? What if no one showed up? That didn’t happen. As a matter of fact the room was full to overflowing.

I wondered if they would participate. Not good for a speaker when everyone is silent. No worries here either. I found that if you give an introvert an opportunity to talk, they’ll take it. They came up with good comments and questions. It was a blast that I wish I could repeat. [Read more…]

Prospects Should Be Courteous

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I invited a business owner to come and talk to me about where he wanted to go with his business. I thought from what he told me about his concept that I might be able to help with his business vision and provide strategy that would get him the sales he wanted.

He accepted and he and his partners came — or most of them did.

Within a few minutes of starting our meeting, one of his partners began to get cell phone calls all of which he took. I consider that rude.

I deal only with small business owners. I know that calls can be critical and that owners feel they have to wear all the hats at first and do everything. I don’t mind if they need to take a short call or deal with an emergency.

However, if they are expecting an important call, then it would be courteous to let me know when we begin. I also think if the call is important enough to interrupt our meeting for some time, they should be courteous of my time and just reschedule. Things happen. I respect that. [Read more…]