Survival strategies

Change This – The Promise of Entrepreneurship

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We are made to believe that when it comes to business success, bigger is always better. In our super-sized, consumption-oriented culture, not even small business is exempt from the pressure to grow for growth’s sake. We fixate on top-line revenue growth and increasing numbers of employees and locations. We pepper entrepreneurs with questions such as, ‘What are your plans for expansion? What’s next? How many cities will you go to?’ instead of asking what their goals are or why they started their business in the first place. When talk about growth we focus on speed, not sustainability. When we talk about success we focus on size, not satisfaction.

via Change This – The Promise of Entrepreneurship.

From the Change This website:

Adelaide Lancaster is the co-founder of In Good Company, a community, business learning center and coworking space for women entrepreneurs in Manhattan. She is a small business expert and has advised thousands of women entrepreneurs on how to create businesses that meet their needs and keep them satisfied over time. She earned two graduate degrees in psychology from Columbia University and her undergraduate degree from Colgate University. ingoodcompany.com

GYL here – this manifesto really hit home for me.  I am 5.5 years down the Path and I would have to say the effort and sacrifice is worth it.  So if you’re on your Path or if you are not and considering getting on your own Path, you ought to read this.  The link takes you to the Change This website.  Once there you can download a PDF of the manifesto.

 

 

Bob MacDonald on What’s So Hard about Doing the Right Thing?

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In the abstract it is easy to say that doing the right thing is – at the very least – reporting the improper activity. But what if your report seems to be ignored? Are you off the hook and have no further responsibility? Even worse, if you do report it and your boss survives with nothing more than a reprimand, what might this do to your personal well-being and your future with the company? In theory, of course, you could quit your job and find another; but in this economy, is that possible? Is now the right time to put you and your family’s financial future at risk? You could go halfway and say nothing while you look for another job, but is that the right thing to do?  This type of enigma is not an academic exercise. Anyone who has ever been in the business world, with ambitions to be successful and rise up the pyramid and support a family knows this type situation – and a wide variety of others – is more reality than theory. The real questions are: At what point are you willing to dilute or even trade in “doing the right thing,” to protect your career by “going along to get along”? At what point do you break and become willing to rationalize the elements of “doing the right thing?”

via What’s So Hard about Doing the Right Thing?.

Bob’s right.  Read his entire blog post to understand why it is not easy to do the right thing.  Thanks Bob and please keep writing and sharing.

Four Days, Three Earthquakes – Still OK in OK

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Welcome to the USGS – U.S. Geological Survey.

I would like to thank one and all who expressed concern for our well-being this past week.  The most recent earthquake was a 4.7 in magnitude and came in the midst of severe thunderstorm and flash flooding activity.  I heard a loud bang that was immediately followed by walls shaking in the house.  Fortunately I reside around 60 miles from the epicenter of the recent quakes.  Still OK in OK.

You'll find Edmond a little to the left of the star.

Quiet Please…Life Underwriting Expert Witness Personal Branding Exercise in Progress

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Only Your Brand Will Save You – Dorie Clark – Harvard Business Review

Starting today, think about how you can own your niche and build your audience. If you care about insuring yourself against hard times, the only true safety is in developing a personal brand that’s better known — and therefore more powerful — than that of your competitors, or even your employer.

John Locke – Lessons From a Expert

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How I Sold a Million Books on Amazon in 5 Months

In case you missed the message, John Locke is a serial entrepreneur who loves to write. He also loves to earn a profit from his writing. He sees writing as a business and the selling of books as a marketing effort. And this is what he shares in this book.

John Locke Author: Secrets to Self-Publishing Success

I owned a life insurance company. I quit college with one week to go before graduation in order to sell insurance door-to-door on straight commission. By age 28 I was one of the top insurance sales people in the world.  By age 35 I bought my own life insurance company and appointed nearly 7,000 agents in 34 states.

A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing: Guest Post by John Locke

Thought for Today – 7/31/11

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Dani Rodrik’s weblog: The great divergence, the other way around

Dani Rodrik’s weblog: Will the divergence in growth result in eventual convergence in incomes?

Dani Rodrik, Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard University, is the author of The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy.  HT to Mark Thoma at his blog Economist’s View.

I have no further comment on this topic because there is a lot to think about here.

Interesting and possibly scary chart