Prosperity Mind

What is "prosperity" for you?

A rich man asked a Zen master to write something down that could encourage the prosperity of his family for years to come. It would be something that the family could cherish for generations. On a large piece of paper, the master wrote, "Father dies, son dies, grandson dies."

The rich man became angry when he saw the master's work. "I asked you to write something down that could bring happiness and prosperity to my family. Why do you give me something depressing like this?"

"If your son should die before you," the master answered, "this would bring unbearable grief to your family. If your grandson should die before your son, this also would bring great sorrow. If your family, generation after generation, disappears in the order I have described, it will be the natural course of life. This is true happiness and prosperity."





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Lindy Asimus
Design Business Engineering
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Meeting New Minds

I had the good fortune to meet with a business coach who is a member of a new coaching network we are setting up locally. Our initial meeting came at the end of a set meeting that I confess had me a little bummed... while coaches are working to advise businesses, it seems that the advice - or the areas covered by many coaches - does not stretch to address anything to do with the online world, or the tools that we use online to promote and further the better outcomes of clients.

No matter, that is my area of interest, and will remain so.

Fortunately my companion emanated a ray of hope at the other side of the table and as sometimes happens, we shared a spark of recognition and quickly established some rapport. Forward to our meeting, it is clear that we share an interest in many things, and from a business point of view, perhaps the most encompassing way to describe this would be: A Values Match.


If you are networking in your business, attending meetings and workshops, and the like, I would urge you to step outside of the set functions and get together with people on a one-on-one basis to learn about the "who is" of that person. Time and again in network groups, I see things stall and invariably the question arises "why isn't this working?". To me the answer seems simple. There is not the engagement on a personal level, or a meeting of the critical issue - a desire to arrive at a common outcome between participants. Vital to discovering a point where interests converge, seems to me to require - and this is certainly true for me - a shared value system. Until you really get to know someone, you cannot know if the values of the other person is a match. Without that... there is no real way to go forward.


But back to my meeting. Meeting new people opens us up to all kinds of new learnings. I learned about a book that was important to my companion some years ago, and it seems like something that would be of particular interest to me too, since architecture and engineering are facets of life that I think we can find use for in all kinds of contexts. The structure of business, and the way that we engineer strategies to find solutions to problems that we want to overcome, is critical to a solution focus. And relate very closely to the name I chose for my coaching business, namely Design Business Engineering. If you believe that waiting for things to just happen by chance is not a very good strategy for building a successful business, then that might make sense to you too.

It also brought me to discussing NLP for the first time in a very long time. I have been a student of NLP since I took my first training in 1997 and for me now it is just an integral part of 'what I do' and I don't really bring it up as a subject in my coaching, unless clients are familiar with it. Instead I find it easier to bring to bear as and when the tools are appropriate in the context of my work with clients, which are essentially in the first instance, relating to business, but inevitably overlap with personal beliefs and strategies of the business owner client. So I confess, I chuckle to myself when I hear people refer to themselves as being a 'neuro linguistic programmer' as it seems about as useful as referring to oneself as a 'user of petrol' or an 'eater of eggs'... I do lots of things, and have lots of interests and use lots of tools. These do not, I hope, define me.

I look forward to learning more about my new colleague. I can already see some (pardon the word) synergy between us and perhaps I may begin to write some more on the topic of NLP than I have done in recent times.

Watch this space.

And go learn about some of your network partners.








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Lindy Asimus
Design Business Engineering
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Twitter And Kneejerk Reactions

“The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.”
~James Russell

Yesterday I was interested to read an article about a work-from-home business owner on the trouble they were having getting into the whole Twitter thing. The article was interesting enough as a sharing of perspective but what interested me even more was the comments that followed.

Now I've seen this happen other places, but as the day progressed and more and more comments rolled into to my email notices, I was struck by two things.

The first... at how successful this article was at generating 'heat' from the community in the form of comments. There is a lesson in that and I might have to ponder that a bit more to isolate what that lesson is. Secondly, how willing people are to form opinions - and share them! - with the most scant information to hand.

Now I'm all for people choosing the networks and applications that suit them, but let's be clear here. We don't pick up many things straight off the bat. And less often do we do things very well, without gaining some experience. We try, we stumble and we keep trying and get better at it. If that were not true, we'd none of us be wearing shoes with laces, or even walking for that matter. And yet I don't see many 30 year olds crawling to work on their hands and knees.

Twitter may or may not be something that you need. But here's what you do need. What we all need. A mind that is open to explore and understand, before making snap judgements. It's been said that opinions are like ... well things we all have. That doesn't mean they need to be shown in public.

All this reminds me that Iggy Pintado's book Connection Generation is critical reading for anyone who is engaging in today's community in any way at all. Techie or technophobe, read it to understand some of the people you'll find around you on any day.


What do you think?


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You Are What You Look Like - Small Business

You may have holes in your shoes,
but don't let the people out front know it.
Shine the tops.

—Earl Hines (musician)


I happened to be in the city recently and stumbled upon a store that supplies business clothing for men and women. Times have certainly changed since the only uniform shops sold blue workman's pants, overalls and steel-cap boots.

This store was quite interesting to me, they had a great range, classic pieces, that would be well received in business or smart dressing after work. Great because the items were all priced to the market and no more and in many cases cheaper than the department store Usual Suspects charge. The department stores of course, don't always have stock that is quite right for the business environment.

And I got to thinking about corporate dress and how that has improved over time, and what the situation is in small business.

Quite different.

There are so many areas that small business struggles with compared to corporate businesses. In corporations, systems (good or otherwise) are a standard part of doing business. Not so in small business.

Struggling with running a business without beginning with a good system in place, means that there is always going to be stress related directly to that lack of a systemic approach, and managing the inevitable crises that happen, in addition to the day-to-day stuff that has to happen. The stress plays out for the owner of the business, the staff of the business, and commonly, the customers of the business. Many times it affects the financial wellbeing of the business too.

Attending to planning and strategic issues is often regarded as "not important" as the customer complaining on the phone. There can be a disconnect with what's vital in the business, for it's long term health - and the actually petty but urgent "must fix this now" stuff. Stuff that exists very often, because there are no good systems to deal with it!

Dress for business is an area that gets less attention than most. And yet that whole way that we present our business - our printed material, our online presence, how we answer the phone and how we dress - all communicate with our customers what we think of our business and them and what we think of ourselves.

Really, it is time for small business to lift it's game and start presenting to the world as a business - not like amateurs playing at running a business.

Stand up and be counted as serious contenders.


How do you approach dress in your business? Your feedback is most appreciated.




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Hope Springs Eternal - What and How

A sunny winter's day as I write this, considering a tweet from a friend asking me how my day was. "Fine sunny winter day... that has to be good." And indeed it is.

By nature, I tend to be a Responder, and writing blogs often comes up as a response to something that happens then prods me out of my current trance-stream-of-events and moves me to commit to a post on a topic. One consequence of that may be, to emphasis the downside of business, the pitfalls, the traps to watch for and the Beware-there-be-beasties-here topics. Which may seem that there is no upside to business, but of course that would be to miss the great wonder of what Is possible...and I would hate to leave anyone with that impression.

Hope and Encouragement, should be the gift we all spread everywhere we go. That's not the fantasy kind, but real hope and encouragement.

The truth is, you can do far more than you give probably understand is possible. You might need help to uncover what you need to do that, and it might require you to do things that are outside of your regular habits, but that just means you may not yet know how to do that thing you want to be able to achieve.

But that's a kind of identification of a "What". Once you have defined what it is that you want to have happen in your life, then you can find out what the "How" conditions are.

You can wait for inspiration to come to you, or you can get help to identify the What. And the How.

Now that's encouraging!

First step? Ask for help.





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Your Social Profile: Tips

Different social platforms will have different information they call for. A template will help you quickly copy or copy and paste your information. Use this information selectively, to bring your story to life on your business website too.




Name

Your personal name is usually preferable on social media.
If you have a personal account on Facebook then you can add your business Fan Page with your business name there.

Similarly, on Twitter, people first and foremost, want to Follow a person – so build your personal network and use a Business Twitter ID to complement your personal account.


Address

Business or postal address is preferable to your home address – you don’t want people knowing where you live. Identity theft is something to always be on guard against giving away too much information. With a few discreet bits of information, people can build an identity very easily!


Contact Details

Your business phone – never a home phone landline should be used. Safety first!

Your email address should be one that you use for general business online use. Make it something that you check regularly and for preference, not a hotmail or yahoo account. You never want to add your email to show up on a business listing as somethingsleazy06@hotmail.com


Date of Birth

As with your home address, your date of birth is a security risk if you broadcast it online. Many sites allow you to add your day and month of birth only. If you want to display your birth month and not your year of birth, but can’t selectively show it on that site, consider choosing a birth year that is obviously not yours (like 1919) – note: most sites will not let you put in a recent year as birth year since usually members have to be over the age of 13 or more. NOTE: Make a note somewhere that you keep your log of online passwords etc in a diary etc, with this date, if not your real date of birth, so you can always use it if you need to provide proof that this is your site, to the site administrator

Remember, without being paranoid, your business is your business and being aware of security issues online is good practice. Don’t advertise your date of birth, your home address, your home phone number or anything that will indicate to robbers that you will be away from your home or that you have bought new expensive items, if there is any way for your residential address to be found online. Tip: Google yourself and see what IS already online about your personal details.


Business Name

When adding your business name, think if it describes the business too. So if your business name is ‘JB Holdings PTY LTD’ Might be better to leave off the Pty Ltd, and add a descriptor, so your listing might show as JB Holdings – Architect (or Home Builder, or Hairdressing Salon or Widget Manufacturer)


Business Description

This is one of the most critical pieces that you will write and you should think long and practice how to best tell people about your business in this section. When you do that, you have a great way to describe what your business does, not just on this profile online, but in conversation, or your print material, or even your business card or website. Make this really work for you – and it will also work well for Google indexing your site.

The following two points may need to be incorporated into the main description, or could have a separate space. Work your profile accordingly.

• What You Do

Use clean, clear language, specific and concise. What you do, and for whom you do it.

• How You Work

Let people know how you work. Do they come to you, do you go to them, is there something special in the way you deliver your product or service?

• Locations You Service

Does your business service just a 20 mile radius, or are you open to business state-wide, nationwide, or globally? Spell it out. (If you only serve locally – think – could you sell further afield?)


Education

Sites like LinkedIn are geared to educational qualifications and if you have some to add, they can be useful to complete this section. If you don’t have educational qualifications, then you can add your trade qualifications if you wish, or may be able to leave this section blank. Adding your schools and universities can help others connect with you, so this has several functions.


Recommended by

If you don’t already have any written recommendations, this is a good reminder to get some! Testimonials from happy customers are an important marketing tool, and Linkedin provides a good way to ask customers to recommend you, and a process that allows them to do so easily. Don’t just leave it at that though – add some to your website and your marketing material, and make it a policy to ask for endorsements from customers.

Your Experience

On Linkedin your profile will allow you to list your previous work and the experience that you gained in each field. This can build a solid picture of your diverse skills, or your special area of interest.


Your Websites

Add your website and your blog URL here.

Make sure that it follows the protocol required on that site (some require http://www.yourwebsite.com while others just want the www.yourwebsite.com ) Double check that you have no extra . at the end of the URL and test to make sure that the links work before you leave the profile editing page. [Learn to notice that . – it can be the cause of a lot of problems if added to the end of email addresses for example, where it doesn’t belong and can cause a lot of frustration ‘breaking’ otherwise good email addresses or web URLs)

If you don’t have a website, now is the time to seriously give some thought to getting one. Your customers expect you to have one, even if it is a modest one. Don’t disappoint them.

A blog is another good thing to have and takes some effort and is best considered as part of your entire online strategy, which is itself, a component of your business marketing plan. Like babushka dolls... this should be part of your overall working business plan. One element fits inside the next, but your success vehicle for the business, contains them all. That’s what your business plan should be. Your business success vehicle.


Your Interests

Think about the context here. If you are adding a profile to MySpace, you might add some items that are a little removed from business, but on Linkedin you might want to be a little more selective on what you add as your hobbies or interests. In both cases, if you are using your own name on a site, you might want to skip the more suggestive or less conservative ones. You may not want everyone who looks for you on Google to find out all of your ‘interests’ ;-)


Associations & Groups

Again, list the clubs and groups that you belong to, but be selective. Not everyone will enjoy knowing if you are a member of the KKK


Keeping a template of the answers you use for profiles can be a time saver for you if you decide to join multiple online sites. Either a hardcopy as a prompt sheet, or a file copy so you can copy and paste.

Check your profiles regularly and update as things change.


Ideas you'd like to add? Leave a comment!



See also Why You Should Be On Linkedin

Thinking Of Getting A Business Coach?
Lindy Asimus
Design Business Engineering
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Coaches Do This.

“Just what is coaching, anyway...?”

Here’s the question that comes up all the time. From those who may need a coach, and for those who would coach them and are tasked with delivering a definition that has some meaning that may be understandable with those who might like to access such a service.

Personally, I am a bit ‘over’ the sporting analogies and frankly think the name is actually a bit inconsequential, since the coaching role can cover such a wide variety of contexts, and because each coach may cover within a specific niche and in some ways, may operate in a way that is slightly different from other coaches, and indeed, differently depending on the client, it may vary from case-to- case as different scenarios demand. I am given to understand that some coaches don’t vary the way they coach, but I cannot speak to that. In my own work with clients, I have a range of tools that I have developed that address certain issues within a business and still others that I custom-create to fit the need. Since I work with businesses in different sectors and with different products and presenting dilemmas, this seems to work well for us.

Coaching as a vocation is an interesting business. Like any business owner knows, there is providing a product, and then there is running a business...Two very different ‘animals’.

Today the topic came up as several of we coaches held a meeting to nut out some issues in putting together a network for coaches in the Newcastle and Hunter region. It is an interesting bunch of people, with interests, and expertise across a wide spectrum of topics. The coaches are quite different as are their respective focus areas and work with clients on issues ranging from personal/life stuff, through couples, family relationships and different shades of business, large and small, family businesses, corporate business, employee coaching, and more. With clients ranging from individuals facing transition in their lives, business owners looking to develop their business to the next level, or just plain get organised and shed some unnecessary stress from their lives. All good people all facing their own particular challenge.

Perhaps our greatest challenge as coaches is in creating an awareness, that we’re here. We’re here for the business owner who wants to finally get some systems in place and run their business like a ‘real one’. For the single mother looking to grow and raise her personal esteem and be a good model for her children. For the newly divorced man who finds himself on the outer and no real skills to move forward toward a loving healthy next relationship – with himself – and later with another.
What do coaches do? Well that depends. What do you need? What is it that you want to do that you haven’t been able to manage alone? That’s what coaches do. Help you achieve whatever it is that you want. Sometimes, it begins with helping you understand and articulate, just what that is that you do want.

As simple and as complex as that, is the answer to what coaches do.

The real point, perhaps in our coaching network, is to create a focal point, so that those looking for help – of whatever kind – can find the starting point to connect with someone who can help them to do just that thing they have a desire to do. I hope they find us.


I think that’s quite a good start... Don’t you think?



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