Do Some Reflecting This Week

This is a good time to think about what 2010 brought you and where you want to Be in your life/business in 2011.  It's typically a down time between Christmas and New Years with not much going on in the business world so why not take time now to start writing down some changes you want to make.  What were some of your successes you encountered this past year.  What were some lessons you learned, people who influenced you, things that made an impact on decisions you made, etc. What do you feel you need to do differently?  All good points to consider and reflect on. What would like to create in 2011 that is not in your life or business now?  Who do you want to Be?  Think big and bold and be comfortable with taking risks and most importantly, don't settle for less than what you are capable of doing.

I look forward to going across the street and sitting on the beach this week for a couple of hours to be in nature and let my intuition surface for what I am creating this coming year. I had lots of great gifts, opportunities that came my way, new people I met and work with and places I got to see this past year. It's all good even the lessons I needed to learn and I suggest you do the same.

Whatever happens, my wish is for prosperity, good health, fond memories, new growth and endless opportunity for everyone.

Happy New Year 2011!!!!

Your Results are Simply Your Results by Lou Dozier

I love that.  Lou wrote an article in Choice Magazine (for coaches) about Living the Life You Love - 4 Keys to Abundance. This was #2 Key. What he means by this quote is the Universe mirrors back to you what you create. So if you are happy with how your life and business is flowing, you are grateful for all of the gifts in your life, you are aware of the lessons that show up, you will be in a healthy relationship with your results and with yourself.  If on the other hand, you are constantly worrying about how much money you need or don't have, you are envious of others, never seem fulfilled, etc., guess what shows up?

So going into the last weeks of 2010, be mindful of where you set your attention and attitude and see what you become aware of. A good way to keep track is to journal.  Write down your positive thoughts, goals and vision of what you want to create and start believing that you have the ability to have all that you want and long for. Next year at this time, you can pull out what you wrote and reflect back on your journey.  I wish you good luck with this and may abundance flow through your every pore.  Blessings for the holiday season.

Effective Partnering

I have created a series of three workshops for partners in business that I will start facilitating in January. I thought of "effective partnering" in the middle of the night as I was thinking about how important it is to be in harmony when you are working with someone and you equally are making successful oriented business decisions together. In a perfect world I would have worded this "effortless partnering" but sometimes we have to struggle and make decisions that may be difficult. It's very important at the beginning of a business partner relationship to get everything that is relevant to your success on the table.  Define people's roles, create boundaries and get clarity on expectations so if there is a surprise that shows up, you can deal with it rationally without making someone wrong. Too many times these steps are left out, not thought of or thought of as not important. Things will come back to bite you if you don't address key issues up front.  You can never assume that the other person thinks like you do, big mistake.  We are all wired very differently with life experiences, education and backgrounds that reflect on who we each are. Taking time to sit down and talk about roles is key to how successful and balanced you will be in decisions you will be making together in the future. What steps do you need to make now to start a   more successful relationship?

Creating a positive culture

great article posted by Bruce Rector

Premium content frctorom South Florida Business Journal - by Bruce Rector

It is surprising to me how few companies that I encounter proactively contemplate creating a corporate culture as a competitive advantage. Many times, corporate culture is an afterthought – if it’s even thought about at all. And, in my experience, this can be the case not only at middle-market companies, but even at large, multinational firms. This might be a result of viewing operating results purely from a financial perspective without thinking about the softer issues that often can drive those results.

Why might a firm benefit from a thoughtful approach to creating a positive corporate culture?

• Your employees will be more productive. I’ve seen companies that have clearly positive, encouraging cultures, and the difference in employee satisfaction and productivity is remarkable. When problems arise, these companies are focused on fixing the problem, not finding a person on whom to fix the blame. Bottom line: If people feel like they are in an environment that is positive, they add more value.
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• It can make it easier to identify potential leaders. By creating a strongly positive culture, a company can make it easier for leaders to emerge. They will be the ones that will feel free to suggest improvements to processes and procedures because the culture will support their stepping out and taking the risk to be proactive.
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• It will make it easier to recruit and retain quality employees. Companies that garner a reputation as places that are quality places to work will do a much better job of recruiting strong employees. And a company is only as strong as the people who work there.
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• It will almost certainly enhance the company’s reputation in the marketplace. This sort of credibility and awareness in the marketplace can be terrifically valuable to your company.  While you may understand the value of creating an appropriate culture, management needs to recognize that building a strong, positive culture is a conscious choice on their part. Like any aspect of developing and growing a business, this doesn’t just happen accidentally. Management must decide that creating the right culture is a priority, and put some thought into how they will make it happen. By putting pencil to paper and laying out a series of steps they can design and implement a strategy to make it happen – and add enormous value to their company.

Read more: Creating a positive culture | South Florida Business Journal 

Who Are You?

I have been finding a common theme amongst some companies in the mortgage industry around not disclosing who the executive team is.  The web sites talk about what the company does and how they do it but they don't talk about who is leading the teams, why they got in the business in the first place, what their strengths are or their backgrounds. Having been in national sales for many years and now in my coaching practice, I share with leaders I am in conversation with how important it is to talk about yourselves. Maybe there is fear around a competitor stealing away good people - what a shame as if you are so concerned about losing someone to another company, maybe it's time to step back and learn about the person and what you value in them and convey the message of who you are as a company and how they fit in with value. This is probably a whisper to me as potential future business to share with these companies how significant it is to talk about your Why. Hmmm, I'll have to stew on that one.

Why Complain About How Cold It Is?

We are currently experiencing a cold front here in South Florida.  Currently it's about 50 degrees but with the wind blowing, it feels colder.  I love this change in weather.  I get to haul out my out of state Florida clothing and relish the crisp air.  Mark, my life partner hates it.  He constantly complains how miserable it is and is dressed like he's going into hibernation. I understand where he is coming from as he was born, raised and lived in Chicago for 45 years and his memories include standing in his foyer in the mornings waiting for his car to warm up. He would never go back there in the winter. I on the other hand was raised in California and Arizona and didn't have to live for long periods of time in really cold weather. But I also appreciate the gifts of whatever the weather is showing up.  I get to breathe fresh air, I get to enjoy the sunshine and I live in beauty. There are many places in the world where people live in ungodly environments but they make do and typically don't complain. We will be back to normal temperatures within the week which means 70's to 60's range for the next six months, this I appreciate. What good is complaining, it gets you know where but causes negative feelings that get even more pronounced. Be thankful for who you are, what you have access to and the freedom we enjoy. This cold weather shall change so deal with it as best you can, what else can you do?