Tuesday, December 14, 2010

'Tis the Season

So this is Christmas.

It's the time of year when the flyer pile in the mailbox is enough to jam it open and spill onto your front porch. Advertising is highly competitive as charities and not-for-profit organizations kick in campaigns against commercial enterprises; everyone is vying for your extra dollar during the season when they know there is a greater chance that you will be spending money on more then just essentials.

From a business perspective, this is undoubtedly the season of spending. An optimal time to encourage people to explore the path of generosity (and indulge themselves while they are at it). A thousand signs, posters, Twitter messages, emails, flyers, radio and television commercials, and any other conceivable means are devised to attract your attention. Some businesses thrive solely on holiday spending to make up for losses incurred in other seasons of the year.

So how do you come out on top in this rapid firefly of advertising and competition? How do you keep your business on top in the milieu and confusion and onset of crowds of people that are openly looking for the best deal? How will your business handle these conditions and survive the current economic climate; better yet, how will your business boost its profitability and dominate its market in the new year? It's a buyer's market - why will consumers come to your door, and keep coming back in the future?

At ActionCOACH, we offer business owners the knowledge, tools, and skills they need to succeed. We offer the support, clarity, and third-party perspective that gives you the competitive edge. A franchise built on real-world experience, testing and measuring, continual adaptation to meet the changing needs of businesses around the world, ActionCOACH has the ability and means to increase your profit margins and drive your business to new heights of success. We have a proven system of expertise that works. It's business owners like you that joined with ActionCOACH and took their company to the top. You can, too! Make this season the beginning of a new era - and look forward with hope in a fantastic future for you, your family, and your company. This will be the best Christmas yet ...

Friday, December 3, 2010

To Be or Not To Be

Take the pains required to become what you want to become, or you might end up becoming something you’d rather not be. --Donald Trump

Look around you. Is this where you imagined yourself ten years ago? Is this the house, the family, the car, the lifestyle you had in mind? If so, congratulations! If not, why not? Where did you turn aside from the things that mattered to you and made concessions that have led you to where you are today? Because contrary to a popular belief that life just happens and we ride the waves as they come, where you are today is largely a product of your own choices. Perhaps your priorities changed; maybe an unanticipated life-altering event occurred that was completely beyond your control; perhaps you simply decided that what you originally wanted isn't what you really wanted. The reasons aren't essential at this point. What is essential is that you take a pitstop on the road of life to decide if where you're headed is where you want to go.  Let's take a lesson from an old childhood classic - Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland:

"Cheshire-Puss," she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider.
"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.
"I don't much care where---" said Alice.
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.
"---So long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.
"Oh you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
We can all keep on walking, but someday we may discover ourselves in a place we never intended to be. It's time to discover the power of goal-setting. At ActionCOACH we believe in setting a course, evaluating progress, and ensuring we are moving in a positive direction. Where you are right now is your starting point. Where you want to be is your end point. It's time to plot the course that will get you there. Start building your dreams. Start reaching for those goals. This life is the only life you've got - the only chance at success. Learn why planning is so important, and then put that knowledge into action. It's time to live that dream and be that person. If you don't do it now, when will you do it?