Friday, August 29, 2008

The Ten Commandments for Business Failure... the one commandment for life success

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

In The Ten Commandments for Business Failure, Donald R. Keough, takes us down the road of his experience as director of Coca Cola to show the roads to avoid for certain business collapse. His experience is impeccably strong and worth listening to. So in a business, if you do these things, failure is just ahead.

Make one of these your practice, and you can expect the others to come crumbling in around you. One step to failure, unchecked, leads to another.

Quit taking risks
One of the pitfalls to success is to stop forward advancing when things appear to be going well. Keough likens this to a sports team who gets a commanding lead then starts being conservative to hold the lead, versus still being aggressive and daring in building on what they got. Many may lose the lead or barely pull the game out. Having things too good is not good. Keough's favorite activity was going around the company and asking what can be better and we should make it better. To create profits in the long term requires innovation in the short term. When you are comfortable, the temptation to quit taking risks is so great, it's almost irresistible. And failure is almost inevitable.

Be Inflexible
Being set in your ways because you have "the" formula for success, and you don't see any other way for doing things is a certain set up for failure. Coca Cola didn't take the rise of Pepsi seriously and felt they had the right answer. They kept their packaging the same, when the consumer was being drawn to the larger size of Pepsi bottles. Coca Cola's inflexibility cost them dearly then. When conditions around you change, remain inflexible, keep on keeping on and stand firm. You will fail. Flexibility is a continual, deeply thoughtful process of examining situations and, when warranted, quickly adapting to changing circumstances. It's like standing water, that eventually breeds reptiles of the mind.

Isolate Yourself
If you don't know the truth of what is really happening in your business, you will fail. Some don't want to know and only hear what is good. It someone gives an honest appraisal that is negative, they are reprimanded for being insubordinate. Keough was always walking around his business, just dropping in offices and asking what could be done better. Top to bottom saw him. Create a climate of fear, put yourself first, take all the credit, take no blame, hog the limelight, and failure's headlights can be seen approaching. In isolation, you will not only not know what you don't know, but you develop a sense of being absolutely right. When the "we can do no wrong" attitude overtakes the top, the bottom is near.

Assume Infallibility
Always find someone or something to blame. The infallible we-know-best attitude of management has caused many companies to ignore reality and miss opportunities. It really pays to see all of your companies operations for yourself, the good and bad outlets. When Keough traveled he not only wanted to see his successful operations, but the little stores that no one wanted to pay attention to. It pays to listen to your own people face-to-face instead of through the filters of layers of bureaucracy.

Play the Game Close to the Foul Line
Walter Cronkite said, "Success is more permanent when you achieve it without destroying your principles." Recently we have seen quite a few very smart, energetic people who have evidenced a fuzzy view of the right thing. Ignored little cracks in your body of ethics will over time seep the life out of your business. Eventual collapses have been seeping through their ethics cracks for a while, when they finally collapse, it is many times over night. Celebrity status have seduced many into the cult behavior of crossing over the ethical behavior line... to maintain your praise-filled image. It's doing the right thing, and holding up honor and decency. There is no such thing as business ethics... just ethics. "A quiet conscience sleeps in thunder."

Don't Take Time to Think
Technology does many great things for a business, but the brain still sees things with a greater perspective. Allowing technology and data to take over our own thinking is the a step to failure. Three major problems are inherent in unprocessed data flowing without time to think. When we delve into all kinds of data we need time to decompress. You must take time to think. Moving faster, without processing information leads to failure. Second, data not processed can mask reality. We want the numbers to be true, so we don't look into what is behind the numbers, or what is really going on in the entire operation. Third, not taking time to think is just plain foolish. It's not a luxury, it's a necessity. As human beings, we are constantly making mistakes. We need to recognize this, find them and constantly fix them. If you want to fail avoid looking at and analyzing your mistakes. When you don't they will continue to haunt you in the future.

Put All Your Faith in Experts and Outside Consultants
Consultants come in as authorities with absolute direction. What you get is a narrow perspective of what appears to be genius, but is often the inverse of wisdom. Management is a craft, not a science. Beware of those who try to mathematize and quantify human behavior. You simply cannot put numbers on everything. The business is your baby. It is your responsibility. Anything that has strong psychological impact deserves face to face communication.

Love your Bureaucracy
The machine of the organization should not get in the road of human creativity and productivity. Personality, personal creativity, personal feelings, personal emotional commitment, personal imagination... there has to be room for these ineffable qualities in every job through out an organization. It seems eventually the rules and regulations of a business become more important then the ends they are to serve. Then the bureaucracy itself becomes the major impediment to progress of any kind. Layers and layers of people become a standard, and meetings are the religious services of a company. If you want to lose some of your best talent, make sure the administrative concerns take precedence over all others... love your bureaucracy. Decisions need to be made by those with the best information, not those with the most power.

Send Mixed Messages
Sending mixed messages or confused messages to employees and customers will jeopardize your competitive position. Like when a parent who tells his child to clean his plate or no dessert, but then when he doesn't finish his meal, he gets dessert any ways. Sometimes we say it doesn't matter what you do, you will be rewarded. One year Coca Cola didn't have their sales meeting at a resort, with wives. They picked a city, in the north, in dead of winter, at an average commercial hotel. They got the message. We aren't spending money we don't have. Sales did pick up and the next year they met at Hawaii with wives.

Be Afraid of the Future
There is a great difference between prudent caution regarding and unbridled fear of that future. Science and world conditions could paint a painful picture of what's ahead. Life has always had its things to be concerned with, but when pessimism sets in, it will set you back. As human beings we have always found new markets and ways to capitalize on what's going on around us and create new opportunities. "Worst case scenarios rarely happen." Pessimism focuses on failure. That focus leads to failure. We have a tendency to be thrill seekers obsessed with safety.To aspire to any kind of leadership in business you simply have to be an optimist. American business has constantly reinvented itself. If you want to fail, be afraid of the future. If you want to succeed, approach the future with optimism, and passion.

Commandment Eleven: Lose your passion for work, for life.
"Nothing great in this world has been accomplished without passion." Life is best expressed in our declaration of independence. "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." We aspire to be happy. If you really want to fail, lose the passion for whatever you are doing. "I have never met a successful person who did not express love for what he did and care about it passionately." Make an emotional connection with your customers, your brand, with your people, with your dreams. Don't be afraid of the criticism that great enthusiasm and optimism sometimes engender among the "realists." Be an idealistic goal setter of a vision of something extraordinary perhaps that others around you do not yet see or understand. And failure is not final. When you fall pick yourself up and move on.

For more on The Ten Commandments for Business Failure:
http://brandautopsy.typepad.com/brandautopsy/2008/08/business-failur.html

Interesting to note that when God gave the Ten Commandments they were all "thou shall not". In the New Living Translation it uses the "You must not" phrase. We were told when you do these things you will fail in life. So the admonishment was not to do them.

3 "You must not have any other god but me.
4 "You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.
7 "You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.
8 "Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
12 "Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13 "You must not murder.
14 "You must not commit adultery.
15 "You must not steal.
16 "You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.
17 "You must not covet your neighbor's house. You must not covet your neighbor's wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor."
(Exodus 20:3-17, NLT)

But then when Jesus gave the Great Commandment He used "You shall" or in the New Living Translation, "you must."

"'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."
(Matthew 22: 37-40, NLT)

Life is complex enough, and we need principles simplified. Our laws have gotten so involved, we can't keep track, so we have lawyers and accountants gainfully employed to help us figure them out. But Jesus simply said....

All the laws ever given are based on this commandment to love God with all our hearts, mind and soul and love everyone else the same way. And treat them the same way we would want to be treated... with respect and consideration of who we are.
And if we do this we make complete all the laws that exist.


The next challenge is to define love.
Paul said love is "patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance."
(1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NLT)

Interestingly, very little is said about achievement. It's about character. Actually, achievement was down played by Paul the Apostle. If you don't have love he said, everything else you do is worthless.

"If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it, but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing."
(1 Corinthians 13:3, NLT)

We have an achievement-based society. Money makes the world go round, but the admonishment was to have only one debt, one obligation. and that is to love each other.

"Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God's law."
(Romans 13; 8, NLT)

That is what we owe. We owe only that and are asked to pay off that debt continually. A debt is what we owe, what we are obligated to do. And that obligation is we should love... Love God, love our fellow man, our friends and work associates. Love is patient, kind, gentle, suffers long with us, and holds not grudges.

We can live in this, and when we live in this, all the other "things" grow out of this. It is sort of a magical formula. It produces miracles. Out of love God gave us the right to be His sons, and as His sons we have a co-inheritance in His privileges and kingdom.

"Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, "Abba, Father." 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering."
(Romans 8: 15-17, NLT)

Being a joint heir, we have a Deed of Trust with God's name and our name on it. What is God's is also ours. We share in the assets He has, God has, which is the entire universe. All things of substance and spiritual are part of us.

It boils down to that He loves us to the level that he is co-signing with us so that we have His assets as well. We share in all He has to the infinite extend of His glorious riches... Through our legal counsel Jesus Himself. Jesus, is our petitioner and is our power of attorney to all of God's wealth... materially, but most of all in our spirit and emotions.

This love is boundless and makes us happy like we never can fully understand.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Life Entrepreneurs ... making life and work one thing

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

Life Entrepreneurs by Christopher Gergen and Gregg Vanourek is how ordinary people can create extraordinary lives using entrepreneur principles. Being an entrepreneur and living a life should be the same thing. What we learn in the business entrepreneur world can be applied and should be applied to our lives as well, so we live them as one thing. The authors studied the lives of 55 entrepreneurs who they found were ordinary people who did extraordinary things. They found not just business ideas, but people that have living and business as integrated, intertwined principles. They live happy, fulfilled lives.

The Life Entrepreneur is one who creates a life of significance through opportunity recognition, innovation, and action.


Life entrepreneurs use the same tools that business entrepreneurs use. It is about developing an authentic, personal vision for our life and then setting up audacious goals. It's finding rewarding work consistent with our values. Where we can develop our talents and achieve the success we desire. It's threading the needle of opportunity and happy home life.

Then along side this is drive and direction to create an extraordinary life. The path to the good life is winding, each person's path is different, but we all can walk our personal path of an authentic integrity, deep awareness, breakthrough innovation, courage to try, purposeful spontaneity, adaptive persistence and pervasive service where we contribute as our defining feature in our lives.

The steps of this life entrepreneur path are:

1. Discovering Core Identity
2. Awakening to Opportunity
3. Envisioning the Future
4. Developing Goals and Strategies
5. Building Healthy Support Systems
6. Taking Action and Making a Difference
7. Embracing Renewal and Reinvention.

Our Core Identity
Our core identity comes out of a convergence of our history, the current circumstances in our lives, the nature of our relationships (external elements) which converge with our needs, strengths, and passions. This forms our core identity of purpose with our values. It is the dis-covering of ourselves, that's peeling off the layers of ourselves to find our core person. The process to get to this requires introspection, action, change and reflection.

In forming our values and purpose core, we must delve deeper. Spirituality has shown up in how leading entrepreneurs do this. It includes believing in a higher power, experiencing a transcendence as we employ strengths, passion, connect with others...by staying active and doing your best.

This is enhanced by the pursuit of a calling. Our core identity is meaningless without Spirituality. Life is about not finding our purpose but uncovering it. This then becomes the passion of calling driving us, and sight of a new vision giving us direction.

Our Purpose and Values emerge and we live out authentic integrity... that's congruence between who we are and what we do.

Awakening to Opportunity
After our core identity is discovered and we are molding it, we start waking up to possibilities. Rather than being tossed around by our circumstances, we look for and discover opportunity in our challenges and changes we face and see around us. Most limits we think we see are really our mental illusions from something in our mindset that prohibits expansion. We create new categories, remain open to new ideas and information, accept uncertainty, re-frame and enlist our minds in a creative playful state.

With mindset skills of breakthrough innovation we create and innovate. Creativity is coming up with new ideas. Innovation is applying a newly found creative solutions in a specific context, and making the way so others cause it to effect change. Finding a better way and seeing to it that it is something others can use to make things better. So the life entrepreneur recognizes the opportunities, while proactively and purposefully choosing which ones to seize.

Envisioning the future
Our vision is something big we see years down the road... maybe out 10 years.The vision goes beyond the status quo, is projected out far enough that we can work for it, and altogether lined with our core identity... purpose and values. The vision moves in three directions... personal, professional, and within our relationships.

We may have to push our minds beyond our present circumstances and not be confined by them. It may evolve over time, but each next step may not be crystal clear, but we move toward it. A big vision may take a while, so our purpose values keep driving us in its direction. Stuff happens. The Life Entrepreneur holds fast and figures out ways to continue the path.

When a vision is shared with those in our lives, spouses, friends, colleagues, these associations keep us going when progress seems bleak or even out of the question. In sharing, there is a resolve of power.

Developing Goals and Strategies
Goals are aims, the ends we seek, the objectives we want to accomplish. They keep us focused and accountable. Goals are purposeful, prioritized, clear and measurable, challenging but achievable. Although long-term in vision, in the short-term they make us highly effective. Short-term gains added up over time create the long-term results we hope for.

Some stumbling blocks to goal setting...
--too many goals (3-5 well constructed goals are best for achievement)
--lowering goals if we fail (commit to work harder)
--getting them out of the mind (write them down with action activities)
--over fixation (keep them in perspective and remain flexible)
--making them a one-time sprint (its constant and ongoing continually)

When developing strategies, master the context of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. Test assumptions
Craft experiments
Mitigate, disarm risks
Identify required resources

Now Blaze the Trail.

Build Healthy Support Systems
Having healthy support systems has significant effect on our success and happiness. But, unfortunately, evidence is pointing to that this is on the decline generally.The average person has two close friends, someone they can confide with in total honesty. And one out of four say they don't have any close friends. We all are more fragile and vulnerable than we care to admit. The important people in our lives encourage us to be people of courage and character. They are a root of foundation on how we handle difficult challenges or whether we collapse when they come. Our closest friends are our chosen family. We look to them for support when challenged in mind, and spirit. One key to entrepreneur success is having these close, supportive, encouraging, friendships that spur us on when facing tough situations.

An ideal support system is couples. Entrepreneurs as couples have proven to be next to invincible. The Howard Schultz story of his wife's support at a critical time of his dream for coffee bistros in the US like Europe, was the turning point difference that has given us Starbucks today. So many notable entrepreneur ventures thriving today, have this "entrepreneur couple" factor highly factored in. This growth of entrepreneur coupling is budding the entrepreneur phenomenon.

Other factors of support strength includes mentors that know the road and help you on your entrepreneur path. Professional partnerships that include strong friendship relationships rise up to the top of a healthy support system. Then creating extended support networks works it way up the ladder... inviting those to join in your vision who whole heartedly support it.

How do you build this strong support network? The greatest persuader is authenticity. Without a personal conviction, expression of your passion, your words come off hollow. Being genuine, authentic, aligning what we do with our purpose and values, we present a package that attracts others.

Unquestionable trust and integrity bind the relationship between you and your support people... beyond legal agreements. Respect between parties must reign.

Healthy support relationships have trust, diversity, and reciprocity in their themes. When we are doing something good, people notice. When they see it's from the heart, it grabs theirs. Our support network brings others to support us too. The "positive network effect" is the flow of ideas through a broad web of relationships, a power that gains a momentum to a point of being unstoppable. It is the key ingredient for taking vision to reality.

Taking Action and Making a Difference.
Each entrepreneur has the courage to try... to discover who they really are and leave what is comfortable, safe and known. They could recognize the brief windows of opportunity and move quickly to seize them. They live in a purposeful spontaneity. If their purpose and core values were not defined and known to them clearly, this spontaneity would be a train wreck. Their search is a search of excellence discovery and bringing more excellent things into the marketplace. Service is a theme in all parts of our lives... home and work. Service is the "rent we pay for living on earth." Living in the realm of adaptive persistence. Sticking with it while being able to instinctively alternate between anticipation, changing course, learning to navigate to the back door if the front won't let them in.

There is more risk when we do not go for it, when the opportunity and purpose of self line up. Real failure is not entering the arena, or erasing the lines that stand between us and opportunity, and then not persevering.

Embracing Renewal and Reinvention
Stress is no stranger to the entrepreneur. Stress is induced by over committing ourselves and not being able to fulfill our promises, intense time pressure, and being subject to matters outside our control. So renewal and reinvention is essential. Adapt renewal strategies. Find a personal sanctuary where you can pray, reflect; places to walk, jog or swim; listening to music or reading a novel. Create habits of renewal.

The renewal process cycle has four stages. The awakening stage is realizing the need to change. Reflection is entering our sanctuary to revisit our core identity and get back to what is important to us. Planning is about taking action anew. Action is breaking out of old patterns.

When renewal is not enough, we must reinvent our lives. After a divorce, midlife crisis, we may need new direction which require big changes. Each change should lead to realigning us with our core identity of purpose and values. Then once again gain congruence and integration in lifestyle.

Creating a New Future
The authors discovered three overarching societal trends that emerged through their research of the life entrepreneur. The new age of entrepreneur progress has had its influence of Google, You Tube, wireless, open source, instant messaging, bioengineering, nanotechnology...

The first trend surfacing is untethering. A move away from traditional institutions and structures to a greater prevalence of free agents and specialized products and services. A move from traditional careers, to professional reinvention. Community is being redefined as we are untethering from local neighborhoods to social networks of similar interests and values... again made possible by the new advances in technology. Lives are more free flowing and uniquely designed by each individual, no longer tied to traditional modes of living.

The other trend is authenticity... finding a fit in the world that matches our genuine selves. There is a search for lifestyle and work which pushes them into their unique ideas, talents, skills and interests. The goal is to add purpose to their lives, and not be manipulated by work that takes them away from their true selves. Meaningful, lasting and enduring are key characteristics. This also affects consumer trends as social conscientious thinking affects who we choose to participate with in purchase of products or services.

The third trend is integration... a restoration of coherence and congruence in our lives. The blend is about less emphasis on income and security, and more on learning, challenge, fun, fulfillment, and service. Work must have value while paying the bills. It integrates family values with lifestyle interests, so work enhances and expresses these. Life is lived coherently and fluidly with our purpose, work, relationships, choice of place to live and activities coming together in a powerful whole.

Life is about living a life of our own that we own and someone else, or business doesn't. All three are the foundations for the pursuit of a new future in the lives of Life Entrepreneurs. The new life is about choosing to do so... with imagination, courage, and conviction. We integrate work and purpose. Success is about limitedless opportunities we now pursue and knowing we have the freedom to pursue them. There is joy, grace, and beauty to live out days within purpose and value.

Life Entrepreneurs website:
http://lifeentrepreneurs.com/

Jesus had a power formula for turning the ordinary into extraordinary.
He said when just two or three agree in pursuits, desires, objectives and lovingly work together toward that pursuit, everything is possible.The secret is the closeness of our relationships and respect for each others diverse nature, and abilities. When diversity, people of different personalities and abilities work together, extraordinary results manifest from it. The complete text of this is at:
http://jesusisus.blogspot.com/2005/07/nucleus-of-spiritual-power.html
(Geffry Fields is the aka for Dale Shumaker)

The Power Cell for Power Living is now being rediscovered.
Here's the secret to the whole thing.
It came after these frequent discussions with Dr. A. He had an insight before he died and wanted all to know what he was seeing.

One day he shared the story of how, after Jesus died, He reappeared to His followers. The followers of Jesus, after His execution, were afraid for their own lives. If those who executed Him found them, they might be killed too. So they all huddled in this little room with the doors locked hoping no one would find them.

Jesus came back. Although, with a new body, new look, new countenance. Most failed to recognize Him... after He came back from death with a miracle-produced body. Similar to his old one but different.

He was overcome with love for His followers. He didn't want to leave those alone saddened by his death. They were afraid, discouraged, feeling defeated and all was lost. They even had the doors locked so no one could get to them, not thinking that might keep Jesus from finding them too.

He was gone.... murdered by a bunch of arrogant, self-serving church folks. Who can you trust at times like this? Friends may be enemies. Those in your group may be making deals to betray you. What do you do but hide out.

But Jesus in all the power of Love in the universe would not let their doubt stop Him. He came through, penetrated the walls they had around them, and appeared to them.
(Note Luke 24)

Think of this.
Think HOW MUCH power there is in Jesus power of Love in you, and around you. Seeking to find you, even with the walls you put up to prevent anyone, including Jesus, to make His Presence known to you.

Even as we doubt... His Spirit is working for us.
When we may get so discouraged, feel ultimate defeat, He presses through any barrier, even the ones we create, and He will come and show up… personally, with all Heavenly power along with Him.
Jesus Love is so deep and strong, He comes to us in spite of us, to comfort us and let us Know... "I live with you, I 'literally' live in you," and all things "are" now possible. "Look what I have just done" He would say. Look how I pressed through all your own barriers and have come to appear to you.

No matter what... Jesus Spirit surpasses everything around and in us to come to restore what we think we have lost....making it even better! He was better and will continue doing more miraculous things... everywhere. He was killed but came back Super-Naturally.

We have the same privilege of this benefit.
Now what is the nucleus to this power?
They all hung together, even while disappointed and feeling defeated. As Dr. A emphasized... He came into their mist. He called this the law of manifestation.

When you master the following as the nucleus to your faith in Jesus Spirit in Us... what ever you hope for can be manifested... materialized... come into a tangible, living reality… in your very life, YOUR life.

This is the missing ingredient we have lost in our society and institutions of Spiritual representation. The Secret to the Law of Manifestation is… as Dr. A described…
1. When just two or more people join in thought and action,
2. When they connect circuits Spiritually, make contact in person, or through some other communication means (phone, email, internet video, etc.),
3. On behalf of Jesus Spirit...meaning
--In a state of love that loses interest in self and considers others more important than themselves
--Sharing in thought and ideas and respectfully considering others thoughts, feelings and personal gift/callings.
--Serving each other as if they were serving themselves. With Jesus Spirit of serving others more important than trying to get from others, or selfishly using others for one's own gain.
(Note Matthew 18)

This is the master formula... that creates miracle, supernatural power in all things and the greatness of Jesus is Us... all universal potential of Jesus manifests itself.
This is the missing component to why power is not around, functioning naturally as a normal, existing part of life.

Master the above and the Supernatural events as Jesus demonstrated when he returned to His followers will be a partisan part of your personal life, business operations, family, and all components of life.

"Given these components, one can expect the manifest presence of Jesus"(Dr. A) as Jesus Spirit is with us. Jesus is now Us.

Expect the least likely, most defeated areas, to have their rebirth, reappearance in you and even marvelously more superior than before. The circuits of Spirit will flow continuously and powerfully in all aspects of all you do. This intimate fellowship with each other is reflected among us... above normal.

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Get Noticed... Get Referrals: Relationships are King

by Dale Shumaker
4spirit@gmail.com

In Get Noticed... Get Referrals, Jill Lublin, its author, lays out a very practical process for getting you into a very active lineage of referral relationships.

She goes through how to distinguish yourself (that intro statement that grabs people's interest), informing your clients and customers on what you really do, and creating your power referral program.

Look for networks that love you and what you do... especially those who enthusiastically like to tell others about you. Basically, they must trust you as competent in what you do, and know you are a person of integrity. Before leading you through how to get noticed. Lublin takes you through how to build your power referral program.

One of Jill's favorite referral systems is Dick Bruso's. Here's his process:
1. Create a list of 10 people you love and who love you.
2. Meet with each individually.
3. Tell them the types of overall markets you want to penetrate.
4. Then zero in to the specialty area you want to reach.
5. Know the positions of people you want to meet, ask them if they know people in those positions that could help you move forward. It's important to identify clearly who you want to meet.
6. Tell them about the qualities and attributes you specifically look for in a person.
7. Ask your contact for 3 or 4 referrals. Then get as much info about these three or four as possible.
Do you have good references? People won't give quality referrals without knowing others are really happy with you too.

People who work well with one person may not work well with another. Is there a personality, emotional, intellectual match, a philosophical and business match. Some referrals may not be good matches for you or good referrals for you. Some clients may conflict with other clients.

Help your connection group, referral group refer people to you. Provide them with a profile of the ideal client you seek. Equip them with vital materials that will help them, and make it easy for them to make referrals. Put your background online so others can link you to the person they are introducing you to. (Services like
www.linkedin.com work good for this.)

Keep your referral base advised on who you are working with, new developments that would help them keep up on what you are doing. It always gives a person fresh ammunition to use to tell others the exciting things you are up to.

Lublin goes on to talk about where to get noticed. Whether to join an organization, local group, industry group, structured referral network, or form your own network. Sometimes you may join a group not directly related to your field, but an area you would like to serve... who would be interested in what you do, and be a good contact group for your product.

When introducing yourself simply tell who you are, what you do, and specific (unique from others) benefits you can provide. Lublin encourages you to work on this and do it very well. She goes into greater detail on how you can.

What questions are you commonly asked. Be prepared to give your best answer.
Always keep it fresh with the latest news you are excited about, and be aware of protocol of those you are with. Be a good conversationalist and explain yourself by focusing on how what you do benefits others, and not so much of what you do. People like stories of how we are affecting others' lives.

Always be ready to meet new people while waiting in a line, where food is served, even in the restroom. Where ever you are always be interested in others.

Deepen your relationships. Regularly catch up on what's happening in others' lives and let them know about yours. Set a strategy to be an education marketer. People are bombarded with sales approaches of all kinds, but they like being informed on new ideas with information that makes a difference in their lives. Demonstrate yourself to others as a knowledgeable resource.

Lublin continues with how to cultivate the media, and ways to do it, and building on your passions. It's critical that you stay passionate about what you do, so you must constantly generate new energy for this. Do this by spending time with positive people, eliminating negative people, taking chances and keep yourself enriched by taking new programs that refresh you and expand you.

Stay focused (define your focus), schedule your time, solve problems with your products, test ideas in writing. Be real and stay in touch with past customers, rev up old business, stay on the good side of vendors who are great for telling others about you, and grow in knowledge and skills in your field so you are a consultant to others.

It's up to you. Create your own magic, adjust, alter, combine, be Dr. Proactive, take the initiative, barter and exchange.

Stay up will Jill Lublin at:
http://www.jilllublin.com/

Today the relationship factor is becoming the most important part of how well we get anything done in business and life. People just don't buy products but the people who go with them. We will listen to a friend on his or her recommendation more than any cleverly designed media slogans.

The greatest power is released through our relationships with God through prayer and the same relationships we have with others committed to interaction in prayer as well. These people, those who we pray along with and we pray together with are the most devoted. The love of Christ is the driving force in their lives, and it drives us to give to each other and assist each other. When love abounds, devotion, commitment action to help each other abounds to the intensity of how much our love is for each other.


What is prayer?
Oswald Chambers said this about prayer: "Prayer is not a normal part of the life of the natural man. We hear it said that a person's life will suffer if he doesn't pray, but I question that. What will suffer is the life of Jesus in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer....We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the Spiritual purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself....To say that 'prayer changes things' is not as close to the truth as saying, 'Prayer changes me and then I change things.' God has established things so that prayer changes the way a person looks at things. Prayer is not a matter of changing things externally, but one of working miracles in a person's inner nature." (My Utmost for His Highest, August 28 reading.)


Dr. A. summed things up as two key areas for Jesus power...

--Prayer... existing in constant interaction in Spirit with God himself.
--Relationship... extending this "in Spirit" relationship to relating "in Spirit" with others.

It's so much about relationship... with The Spirit, within ourselves and with others. Prayer... then is who we are, not so much what we do. We are prayer... The Spirit is in continual interaction in us. In prayer, we connect in relationship with others of the Same Spiritual pursuit. We respond to others who are consistent with the same Spirit. (Spirit is literally One with everything in the universe).

So, when in this Spiritual relationship "in Spirit," we normally practice these people relationship qualities…
--loving others as ourselves
--giving freely to others needs
--forgiving when things go wrong
--tolerating what we can't change

Through Jesus Spirit, in prayer, we team with others' complementary gifts for increasing Power. Our Spiritual Gifts team with their Spiritual Gifts which create tremendous power.

With this in mind, as you pray and when you pray, relationships build between the two interacting in Spirit... it can be vocal or silent. It happens when those in the same Spirit are in uninhibited flow, flowing without emotional hindrances.

If, after we pray, there is disregard for the "relationship feature" of being One in Spirit, potency of prayer diminishes, digresses and lessens.

When we disregard the relationship factor, everything breaks up. The potential of prayer is drastically hampered and dampened. What is committed to in Spirit needs to remain consistent with the Spirit and the Qualities of Spirit within you, to God and to each other. But if respect for another one of God's creation is not there, prayer power, Spirit working power, is not there either.

Spirit honors its creation, we must then honor each other in the same way too.
Spirit that likes to give itself away, Spirit (prayer) flows in a natural manner between those with the Same Spirit.

It connects without effort... while loving freely.
Jesus Spirit flows back and forth like a stream circulating, refreshing, refueling, re-energizing.

In prayer, interacting in Jesus Spirit, we become bigger, much bigger than ourselves as this flow builds on itself. It is like putting two surging Springs together which form a mountain stream of great rapids of flowing power.

Potential for power keeps increasing steadily and compounding at Supernatural rates.
As we refine the process of this flowing Spirit of relationship among each other, power intensifies.

As you intensify Spirit in prayer… by interacting in Spirit constantly, and building relationships with others in Spirit, the magnitude of Spirit will live as a natural part of you. Cultivate prayer, build relationships.

Make Prayer and Relationships your emphasis in life.