ETD: 848 10 tips for New Year's Resolutions; Reorganize your
business; Microsoft squashed (blogged) again
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Tue Jan 4 13:11:20 GMT 2005
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0848 January 4, 2005
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] 10 tips for successful New Year's Resolutions
[3] Reorganize your business
[4] Microsoft squashed (blogged) again
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Happy New Year. I hope the holiday season was successful for you -
personally and professionally.
If you haven't made your New Year's resolutions, you may want to look at
the 10 tips I use. Accomplishing anything is very easy if you have the
right tools and attitude. Break the tasks down into smaller tasks that you
can accomplish. It's like dieting - you way want to lose 25 pounds, but
you should target the loss 5 pounds at a time (that's what I did successfully).
For those who may have reached a plateau in your business, you may want to
consider interim help. Bring in experts to get RESULTS! It will be more
cost effective than you can imagine.
Looks like Microsoft has been squashed (blogged) again. They are giving up
on Passport, and their attempt to control the bloggers has failed. Both
were attempts to control the Internet, but we're all too smart for that eh?
BTW, you should look seriously at Blogging for getting word out about your
company, products or services. Of course, it can have a negative effect if
you screw up.
Tell us about your business, which will remain for posterity at
our "Members: Who Are You?" site. Anything to do with the retail world,
i.e., supplier, retailer, consulting,
etc. http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm And we have a
form there for you to tell us about you. As I said when I first proposed
this idea, we have "known" each other for a long time, yet we often don't
know anything about each other. So, tell us who you are and what you do.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] New Year's Resolutions
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Do you set goals and fail to keep them? Here's some tips I use in my daily
activities, which are now part of my steady routine. They should help
setting goals this year.
1. Analyze your capabilities. Which of your goals did you accomplish in
2004? What do you need to do to accomplish this year's goals? Why do you
fail to meet your goals? Be honest.
2. Set measurable goals. Don't say, I want to double my sales
volume. Instead say: "I want to contact 20 prospects a week, close on 2
sales and increase business by $10,000. Assigning dates and numbers gives
your goals substance, making them real and reachable.
3. Simplify! Get to the root of the resolutions. What is the one
resolution that makes all the difference?
Let's say you want to write a book on successful online selling. What does
it take to make it happen? There are a million daunting tasks, which often
prevents people from succeeding -- How do I research the book? How to
write a query letter? How to approach a publisher? Can I find an agent?
How many pages? How do I format the manuscript? How to generate publicity
to drive buyers to bookstores?
Rather than look at all those overwhelming tasks, focus on the simple task
of writing. Say, "I will sit down every day for at least 30 minutes and
write at least 500 words." Type some topic ideas. Write the first
sentence... first paragraph... first page... whatever! It's getting
yourself writing that will ultimately produce a finished book.
4. Vision. You need to have a vision in your life. I have four questions
on my screen which helps me focus on my vision:
a. What am I going to do today to get what I want?
b. Will my behavior improve my situation and move me towards what I want?
c. How would the person I want to become do the things I'm about to do?
d. How long can I hold the vision?
I see these questions every day, and it helps me stay focused on my goals.
5. Balance. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" is an oft-heard
wise statement. Create some balance in your life. Exercise. Rest. Read
(non-business books). You can't work all the time and expect success. I'm
sure you have found how you find that solution that has escaped you with a
problem, once you "sleep on it."
6. Delegate. "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach him to fish
and he eats for life." This holds true in business. Sure, it's very easy
to do the work yourself. You will get it done faster and, of course, it
will be right. Then again, what is your staff doing? Are they taking
advantage of your shortcoming (lack of delegation)? Delegate and get more
done.
7. Learn. I believe that if I haven't learned something today, it was a
wasted day! There is so much to learn, and so easy to learn. Listen to
others (especially youngsters - they have a simple outlook); read; google;
experiment; do something to learn something new.
8. SWOT. Strategic Planning forces you analyze your strengths and
weaknesses and identify opportunities and threats that affect your
corporate objectives. This is also known as a SWOT (Strengths; Weaknesses;
Opportunities; Threats) analysis. Strengths and weaknesses are internal
factors over which you should have control. Opportunities and threats are
external to your business, over which you may not have control. Your goal
is to match your resources and capabilities to the competitive environment
in which you work.
9. Positive Thinking. When I was a child, I used to listen to Dr. Norman
Vincent Peale (secretly - I grew up on the streets ;-) who was very
inspirational. He wrote an excellent book, and followed a simple rule -
"The Power of Positive Thinking." Rather than look at a glass being half
empty, think of it as half full. I like the power of the 4 P's - Pride,
Positive, Perfection, Performance. I take pride in my work, with a
positive attitude, working for perfection and getting RESULTS!
10. Results. My credo is "Don't confuse EFFORT with RESULTS!" Too often
we hear the statement "I am trying" or "I'm doing my best." While that may
make you feel better, it is a defeatist attitude. Your best may not be
good enough to succeed, and maybe it's time to get help. Recognizing your
weaknesses, and taking action should be a primary goal this year, and every
year.
Good luck with your 2005 goals.
George Matyjewicz
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[3] Reorganize your business
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Maybe this is the year that you consider help growing or reorganizing your
business. We just launched http://interimhelp.com/ a service to help
businesses grow. We get in the trenches and GET THE JOB DONE! We have a
team of highly-qualified, results-oriented professionals who have expertise
in strategic planning, global business development, marketing, sales,
operations, finance/accounting and information systems. Our major strength
is the ability to analyze a situation and develop a simple, cost-effective
solution guaranteed to produce RESULTS!
We don't tell you what is wrong with your company - we fix the
problems! We will deliver substantial results in a quantifiable period of
time. Boosting sales in tough markets, pulling a company back from the
brink of bankruptcy, or resolving issues stemming from a regulatory
investigation are all the type of experience we bring to the table. Even
companies that aren't really in trouble but need a seasoned exec to help
them through a critical growth phase may need a battle-hardened veteran.
We are productive from day one! We develop a plan for success, then bring
in interim management to execute the plan. We can help you with...
o developing a global expansion plan;
o creating a strategic plan and executing a differentiation strategy;
o establishing a marketing strategy;
o writing a business plan or marketing plan;
o complying with Sarbanes-Oxley;
o executing a total ERM solution;
o launching new products;
o selling;
o reorganizing manufacturing or warehousing;
o implementing a new technology solution;
o finding venture capital;
o pulling you from the brink of bankruptcy;
o formulating financial controls procedures;
and more.
We can go so far as to take over your top level positions until we get your
company under control. Then we will turn the completed successful plan
over to your executive team, once we are back on track.
Visit here for more details and case studies http://interimhelp.com/
George Matyjewicz
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[4] Microsoft squashed (blogged) again
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Microsoft is abandoning one of its most controversial attempts to dominate
the Internet after its rivals banded together in opposition and consumers
failed to embrace it. The world's biggest software company said Wednesday
it would stop trying to persuade Web sites to use its Passport service.
The acknowledgment came after eBay posted a notice on its site Wednesday,
saying it would stop using Passport in late January and rely on its own
service.
But the most noteworthy news item was in Fortune Magazine. On Dec. 1,
Microsoft revealed that it planned to take over the world of blogs—the
five-million-plus web journals that have exploded on the Internet in the
past few years. The company's weapon would be a new service called MSN
Spaces, online software that allows people to easily create and maintain
blogs. It didn't take long for the blogging world to do what it does best:
swarm around a new piece of information; push, prod, and poke at it; and
leave it either stronger or a bloody mess. The next day, at the widely read
Boing Boing blog, co-editor Xeni Jardin opted to do the latter.
She titled her critique of MSN Spaces "7 Dirty Blogs" and hilariously sent
up the fickle censoring filters Microsoft appeared to have built in. MSN
Spaces prohibited her from starting a blog called Pornography and the Law
or another entitled Corporate Whore Chronicles; yet World of Poop passed,
as did the educational Smoking Crack: A How-To Guide for Teens. Within the
first hour of Jardin's post, five blogs had linked to it, including the
site of widely read San Jose Mercury News columnist Dan Gillmor. By the end
of the day there were dozens of blogs pointing readers to "7 Dirty Blogs,"
a proliferation of links that over the next few weeks topped 300. There
were Italian blogs and Chinese blogs and blogs in Greek, German, and
Portuguese. There were blogs with names like Tie-Dyed Brain Waves, Stubborn
Like a Mule, and LibertyBlog. Each added its own tweak. "Ooooh, that's what
I want: a blog that doesn't allow me to speak my mind," wrote a blogger
called Kung Pow Pig. The conversation had clearly gotten out of Microsoft's
hands.
The blog—short for weblog—can indeed be fabulous for relationships. But it
can also be much more: a company's worst PR nightmare, its best chance to
talk with new and old customers, an ideal way to send out information, and
the hardest way to control it. Blogs are challenging the media and changing
how people in advertising, marketing, and public relations do their jobs. A
few companies like Microsoft are finding ways to work with the blogging
world—even as they're getting hammered by it. So far, most others are
simply ignoring it.
That will get harder: According to blog search-engine and measurement firm
Technorati, 23,000 new weblogs are created every day—or about one every
three seconds. Each blog adds to an inescapable trend fueled by the
Internet: the democratization of power and opinion. Blogs are just the
latest tool that makes it harder for corporations and other institutions to
control and dictate their message. An amateur media is springing up, and
the smart are adapting. Says Richard Edelman, CEO of Edelman Public
Relations: "Now you've got to pitch the bloggers too. You can't just pitch
to conventional media."
Details at...
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,1011763,00.html
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/39332.html
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