Like Nobody's Business

People know that the chief reason businesses fail is lack of planning, followed by lack of a system for implementation. Still, business owners don't create them and don't operate from them. What gives?! Here's what people are saying: * I put together a business plan for my company when I started it. It was a horrible process and I ain't doing that again. * I put one together. It cost me a mint and then the consultant wanted more to implement it. * I don't have time. * I don't have a business that needs a 70 page business plan. * My other managers are doing "stuff," but we're not all on the same page. and more. People are looking for a process that will allow them to have a business planning and implementation system that's nimble, simple and elegant. Here are the key questions you need to answer with your planning: * What are we building? * Why does this business exist? * What results will we measure? * How will we build this business? * What's the work to be done? Be looking for a 25 October 2007 webinar on business results. The webinar will be from 11 am - 12:30 pm ET (US). Check back often for additional information, including how you'll sign up for this complimentary webinar. ________________________________ For more info: www.totalteamsolutions.com/podcast/podcasting.htm totalteam.blogspot.com Questions: 214 615 6505, pin 3895 Comments: 214 615 6505, pin 3386

Funny how we're told to show courage and innovation, but we're not rewarded for having the kinds of key failures it takes to succeed like mad? Kinds of courage: * Courage to fail: to make mistakes and explore * Interpersonal courage: in dealing with strong emotions or charged situations * Moral courage: fortitude in dealing with temptations Challenge: be looking for places where your courage has taken a dive. ------------------------------------------- For more info, please Visit www.totalteamsolutions.com follow the podcast tab Dial 214 615 6505, pin 3895 to leave a question Dial 214 615 6505, pin 3386 to leave a comment email Lalita, llamos@totalteamsolutions.com

Change in your organization is made up of more than discussions of character or morals. Change requires shifting to new habits -- repeatable behaviors that become "automatic" and produce the same results over time. Lewin's model: Unfreezing the old habit, moving of transforming behavior, re-freezing an altered or new habit. Prochaska & DiClemente's Model of Change: Pre-contemplation (not now), Contemplation (someday, but not today), Preparation (someday soon), Action (now), Maintenance (locking it in). Get some help. Your organizational and individual habits have staying power. The "buddy system", an advisory council, a mastermind group or individual coaching should help you to make the necessary shifts -- and keep you on track when your old systems and habits call. Email llamos@totalteamsolutions.com to discuss how coaching can help you win. Interested in the power of a facilitated Mastermind Group? Click here for more info and to register for an informational session.

Happy 40th Birthday, Star Trek! No one could ever predict that a cancelled television show could spawn 6 series, 10 moves, hundreds of books and an entire language. BOOKS to READ: Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business (Guerrilla Marketing), by Jay Conrad Levinson. The One Page Business Plan with CD-ROM, by Jim Horan. The One-Page Proposal: How to Get Your Business Pitch onto One Persuasive Page, by Patrick Riley. WEBSITE: Cafe Press, fun stuff to create and buy for your business.

One of the biggest challenge for business owners is what we think we know. It gets in the way of our being able to see things in new ways or explore new options. When asked why an action was taken, most people can't come up with a really well thought-out reason: "Why is your business plan written this way?" Because someone else said to do it. "Why are you at that location?" Because other people who seem to be successful are there. But, do you understand how you arrived at that decision? Many times our own thinking is a mystery to us. Please visit my website for books and other materials to challenge your thinking. ----------------------------- Call the comment line: 214 615 6505, pin 3386 Call the question line: 214 615 6505, pin 3895 Visit the website: www.totalteamsolutions.com

Leighton Haynes, of Twin Phoenix Marketing, continues his discussion of the power of brand and customer sensitivity on business success. He urges: * Not taking customer relationships for granted -- with both internal and external customers * Authorizing employees to take immediate action for customers with the tools needed to satisfy them, rather than passing it along to management. * Leading, or anticipating, customer needs -- not waiting for a complaint or a need * Measurement! Leighton suggests the book, Primal Branding: Create Zealots for Your Brand, Your Company, and Your Future and we're both in agreement that Fast Company and Business 2.0 magazines must-have mags. Contact Leighton, 202 203 7737 ----------------------------- Call the comment line: 214 615 6505, pin 3386 Call the question line: 214 615 6505, pin 3895 Visit the website: www.totalteamsolutions.com

Business advisory boards are tools for furthering your business interests, increasing your networks, generating new ideas and advancing projects -- all of this without the formal responsibilities of a Board of Directors. WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW? Your business and personal goals Who can best help you What do you need them to do How you will reward them How to work with them ----------------------------- Call the comment line: 214 615 6505, pin 3386 Call the question line: 214 615 6505, pin 3895 Visit the website: www.totalteamsolutions.com Chime in on the blog: totalteam.blogspot.com

We've been told that business incubators work, but do they really? This episode investigates the current thinking about business incubators and whether they're all they're cracked up to be. ----------------------------- Call the comment line: 214 615 6505, pin 3386 Call the question line: 214 615 6505, pin 3895 Visit the website: www.totalteamsolutions.com for more complete show notes Post to the blog: totalteam.blogspot.com

You screwed up. It happens. Now, how to you go about cleaning it up while maintaining great relationships with customers, vendors, suppliers, partners and employees? Triune Brain: Reptilian brain: oldest portion. Designed for survival and reproduction Limbic brain: designed for feeling and emoting Cortex: newest portion. The highest thinking part of the brain How to Get an Apology Done: Acknowledge what happened (tell the truth) Acknowledge the impact on them Explain what happened (only if you know what you needed to fix) Explain that you're willing to make it right Make an offer to make it right Ask if this fits the bill and does, in fact, make it right (Note: shut up and listen. Don't put your reptilian brain on "speakerphone.") Ask them if they will accept your apology. ----------------------------- Call the comment line: 214 615 6505, pin 3386 Call the question line: 214 615 6505, pin 3895 Visit the website: www.totalteamsolutions.com Post to the blog: totalteam.blogspot.com

The common human condition is that our thinking is more conventional than we know and that reality challenges us to stay ahead as the business landscape changes. Learn what you can do to continually challenge and expand your point of view about business matters while producing extraordinary results. Visit our website for complete show notes and for resources to expand your lateral thinking. ----------------------- Got a comment? 214 615 6505, code 3386 Want to have your business question answered? 214 615 6505, code 3895 Want to weigh in on my blog? totalteam@blogspot.com

LAPTOP THEFTS OF NOTE: Veterans Administration: 26.5 million records (including those critical for identity theft) December, 2005: Ford employee lost a laptop with 70,000 records on workers January, 2006: Ameriprise laptop missing with 215,000 records on workers and customers February, 2006: Deloitte & Touche auditor left laptop in airplane seat pociet March, 2006: HP lost a compupter with 196,000 records on employees THEFT STATS: In 2003, the Safeware Company reported that 600.000 laptops are stolen annually. The Gartner Group reports a 1 in 10 chance of being a victim of laptop theft. The FBI reports that the chances of you getting your laptop back are 3 in 100! KEY AREAS OF DAY-TO-DAY VULNERABILITY: Coffee shop (inside and in the parking lots) Conference centers Hotels High-end restaurants (where visiting business people take clients while on travel) MORE INFORMATION: www.totalteamsolutions.com (podcast page and e-books page) BE HEARD: Call the Question Line: 214 615 6505, ext. 3895 (Stumped about a business issue?) Call the Comment Line: 214 615 6505, ext. 3386 (Is this podcast working for you? Is there something you'd like to see me do differently?)

Still messing up your marketing? Listen in as Senior Business Coach, Lalita Amos of Total Team Solutions, continues her on-going discussion with Leighton Haynes of Twin Phoenix Marketing on ways to thwart Marketing's 4th Deadly Sin. For more information on this and other podcasts, please visit www.totalteamsolutions.com.

How workplace bullying can cost your company time, money, energy, resources and company morale. With host, Lalita Amos, Senior Business Coach with Total Team Solutions. For a transcript of this or other podcasts, see the Whitepapers section of the www.totalteamsolutions.com website.

As if the first 2 sins weren't deadly enough, Leighton Haynes is back to share more common things we can do to mess up our marketing! Visit www.totalteamsolutions.com for more info and read my newsletter (humor me!)

You are the proud owner of a business....until you think about taking a vacation, and then it feels like the business owns YOU! Senior Business Coach, Lalita Amos, discusses how to get away...when you feel you can't get away.