New Business Development – Page 56

The Will To Believe

I posted yesterday
about my theory
about why leaders and the media
aren’t being honest with us
about events
like COVID.

They’re worried about liability.

So why does the average person
follow their lead?

We know many people around us
are ill.
We know the hospitals are full.
We go to stores
and see cold medicine shelves are bare.

The reality is…
most people are followers.

They don’t want to take
personal responsibility
for their actions
or lack of actions.
That is too much pressure
for them.

So they shift that task
to leaders
and blindly follow them.

They have zero guilt
if things go wrong
because they didn’t make
any decisions.

(But they DID make a decision
– to blindly follow
that leader.)

And, at this point in the pandemic,
admitting COVID is serious
means also admitting
they’ve made deadly mistakes.
They’ve exposed loved ones
to danger,
a danger that might resurface
at any time in the future.

The average person
NEEDS emotionally to think
COVID is mild.
They NEED
to think their child
or other vulnerable loved one
won’t suffer in the future
from a mistake they’ve already made.

The average person
will continue thinking
COVID is over
or isn’t a danger.

Which means COVID
will cause more harm
and it likely won’t ever end.

Plan for that personally
and for your business.

COVID, Leadership And Liability

You and I know
COVID isn’t over.
We know
it is far more serious
short-term
and especially long-term
than most people believe.

So why aren’t
politicians, business leaders,
the media
talking about this?

I believe
it is because
of liability.

If they admit
they know
COVID is serious,
people will want to know
WHEN they knew that.

We’ll uncover
that someone told them
this information
early in 2020.

And then they
will get their a$$es sued off
because millions of people
have died
based on them withholding
and not acting on that knowledge.

ALL of them
will get sued
– politicians, reporters,
businesses.

Companies didn’t install
better ventilation systems,
for example.
They’ll get sued
for endangering employees.

So everyone is pretending
like they don’t know.
Which means they can’t
relay the seriousness
of the situation.

They’re also telling us
it is our personal responsibility
to keep ourselves safe,
which relieves them
of that duty
and will serve
as one of their defenses
when they do get sued.

This tactic of ‘not knowing’
will be applied
to future pandemics
and likely to climate change
disasters.

We should prepare for this.

For example,
I listen to experts
who aren’t liable.

Doctors who aren’t politicians
or the heads of hospitals
or other businesses
fall into this category.

I watch for what
is truly happening.
Are hospitals full?
Is everyone around me
ill?
Are businesses short staffed?

I make decisions
and take action
on THAT information.

Because leaders
are more concerned
about getting sued
than doing their f*ckin’ jobs.

Care For Unused Assets

I have a big backyard.
I’m not using
most of it.

I also have huge maple trees
that shed their leaves
every fall.

I spread those leaves
over the backyard.

Why?

Because scientists tell me
the planet is losing precious top soil
and leaf mulch
(rotting leaves)
protects top soil
and adds to it.

That top soil
will be needed
in the future.
I might as well
take care of it.

You likely have assets
you aren’t using
right now
but might find valuable
to you
in the future.

This could be
a newsletter subscriber list
for a business you no longer run
or
a contact in a field
you no longer work in
or
a pair of work boots
you no longer use
for your more office-centric job.

Invest a couple minutes
and care for those assets.
You might need them
in the future.

Turning To A Fresh Page

Today is the first day
in a brand new year.

Yes, I realize
time is continuous.
January 1st doesn’t in reality
mean
anything
other than what we assign it.

But we assign it
a LOT.
Emotionally, it symbolizes
a fresh start,
a new beginning.

Savor it.

Think of what
you would do
with your business
if you were starting it
today.

What would you
do differently?

What would you tell
a protégé to do?

Then, tomorrow,
evaluate
whether or not
you can implement
those changes
in your existing business.

It is never too late
to start again
or
to course correct.

Celebrate The Great Moments of 2022

2022 was, admittedly,
a challenging year
for many of us.
Things went wrong.
We endured losses.
Not everything was
sunshine and roses.

And it might benefit us,
in the future,
to review those
less-than-optimal moments
and figure out
if we can learn from them.

But the time to do that
is NOT today.

Today,
and especially tonight,
is for celebrating 2022.

We survived it!
We had happy moments.
We have people/furbabies/things
we love
and enjoy.
We have a brand new year
full of possibilities in front of us.

Today is about joy
and happiness
and hope.

Celebrate 2022!

2023 Goals And Plans

Many of us are thinking about
our 2023 goals and plans
this week.

This is your gentle reminder
that climate change challenges
and pandemic challenges
will remain in 2023.

U.N. Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres
is warning of global food shortages
in 2023.

Much of Europe, the US
and Canada
is currently facing
a triple punch
of COVID,
the flu
and RSV.

AND there are new ‘superbugs’
building in intensity.

What does that mean
for the savvy business builder?

We build these challenges
into our plans.

Our plans shouldn’t be based
on everything going right,
on perfect conditions.
They should be based
on reality.

And since everyone,
including the clients
we normally wine and dine,
needs to eat
AND
we require our customers
to be alive
to sell to them,
these two factors will impact
ALL our plans.

Factor for climate change
and pandemic challenges
in your plans.

During Your Year End Review

This is the time of year
when many of us
look back
and evaluate
what we’ve accomplished.

We note the progress
we’ve made,
the goals we’ve met
or not met,
the difference
we’ve made in
this wonderful world.

When you’re doing this,
note
that we were dealing
with both a pandemic
and climate change
during it.

Those were possible life-ending challenges.
They required mental bandwidth
to survive.

Simply surviving them
was a HUGE accomplishment.

If you accomplished other goals
while doing so,
you did AMAZINGLY.

If you’re reading this,
you accomplished a great feat
– staying alive.

If you’ve done more
than merely stay alive,
you should be
VERY proud of yourself.

Remember that
when you look at your progress.

Ask Before Copying Someone

I give readers a free short story
every December.
It is a gift.
It is PURELY a gift.

It costs me money
to edit and for a cover
and I don’t expect
to recover those funds.

Most of the readers
who love the short story
are already buying
every other story I write.

Every year,
some new-to-the-niche writers
copy me.
They give away
their free short stories,
thinking it is some magical
book selling tactic.

They soon find out
it doesn’t increase
their sales.

I would have told them
exactly that
if they had asked me.
Often, I volunteer
that information
on social media.

Ask the originator
before copying them.
Take a couple minutes
and gather that information.

Write It Down

If you took some time off
yesterday,
you likely woke up
this morning,
overflowing with ideas.

WRITE THAT SH*T DOWN.
Immediately!

Once you reconnect
with your business
and with the rest of the world,
you’ll be flooded
with other stuff
– problems,
opportunities,
other people’s good ideas.

You’ll likely forget
about your own brilliant
thoughts.
And that would be a tragedy.
You had those thoughts
for a reason.

Write your great ideas
down somewhere.
NOW.

Take Time Off

I’m working today.

December 25th is a HUGE sales day
for Romance Novels.
Many readers are receiving gift cards
for the holidays
and they are seeking to use them.

But I’m working
as few hours as I can.
I hope to spend most of the day
with loved ones.
I want to relax.
I want to dream.
I want to be inspired.

Many businesses are completely closed
today.
Employees and partners
are taking the day off.

Rest is important.

We all need
to re-energize
and we, business builders
need
to remember
why or whom
we’re working
so hard.

If you can,
take some time off
today.