The Winds Of Change

The Winds Of Change

If your like most small business owners you’re always working to improve the product you sell. Could also involve better marketing ideas, incentives, buy one get one at half price or a slight change in how sales are conducted. Nevertheless, as an owner we always work to be our best. Today there’s more competition in the market place. Although some see that as a threat, when competition is what keeps us on our toes! Truth is we are all challenged each day as the winds of change in business blows on us all. Clients tend to demand more and more of our attention as well as at times question pricing. There is no way to tell how the future is going to turn out in the business cycle, right? Well that’s not entirely true. I’m from the baby boomers generation, which can have an affect on business. As we age our demands change, our needs for material things is not a priority, we move from consumption to saving. This change is a challenge as time goes buy, depending on your business model, revenue is most likely to change over the coming years. The economy is going through a difficult point in time with the millennium generation getting pulled down with massive student loans to my generation struggling to create enough savings for retirement, although the markets are up at the moment, recent activity has peoples 401’s loosing money which presents the question where do you invest these days? You should ask your financial advisor before you make any quick moves. Another change we’re experiencing these day’s is the ability...
What Is You’re Destination?

What Is You’re Destination?

At some point in life we’ve all wanted something, could have been when we were kids and wanted a new bike we’d imagine how it would look, the color and how we felt when we rode it. I can also remember a time when I was a kid thinking about going on a long trip around the world visiting new cities meeting people from different countries, not focusing on the details only the journey. It’s different for each and everyone of us, truth is we were setting a goal and didn’t know it. Today we still have the desire for more but tend to miss the opportunity as time goes by, not because we lost interest or changed our minds, we just didn’t set goals. Without goals were like a ship at sea with no final destination, just floating around each day, wishing something would change. Studies have shown people with written goals are much more successful than those who don’t have a written plan. There’s much information available for us today to develop good goals, yet most people spend more time planning a two week vacation then designing a life. Goals keep us inline with success, allow for improvement as well as provide a path for us to follow each day. There are essentially to types of goals short-term and long-term. Although achieving goals is important, completing each task along the way develops us into a stronger and more resilient person. We must first decide what it is we desire, determine who we are, where do you want to go and what do you want to do. Over...
Imagine…

Imagine…

Remember when we were kids and life was simpler… We’d play for hours. Who liked Baseball. Who liked Hockey. Who liked Basketball. Who liked Football. Who liked soccer. Let’s imagine for a moment what life was like back then. You would get up in the morning and go outside and play until dark (or at least until your mother told you it was time to come in) I can never forget the time the Boston Bruins won the Stanley cup in 1970. The Bruins were making their first appearance in the final since 1958. The Bruins went on to win the series 4-0, their first Stanley cup victory in 29 years…Bobby Orr scored the cup-winning goal on Glenn Hall, with an assist from Derek Sanderson, at forty seconds of overtime, I’ll never forget that day I saw Bobby Orr flying through the air,(he had been tripped by Blues defenseman Noel Picard just as he shot the puck) his arms raised in victory! I can remember how happy my Dad was when the Bruins won that day, I think we were both dancing around the house…Like little kids…(at that time I still was). From that moment on I always Imagined I would also score a “game winning goal” every time we played hockey. It didn’t matter if it was raining. It didn’t matter if it was snowing. It didn’t matter if it was below zero. It didn’t matter if the ice was a little rough. All I could imagine was scoring that goal…No excuses… How about you ? Did you ever use your imagination like that when you were a...
The Highest Form Of Architecture

The Highest Form Of Architecture

During the fall of 2008 I learned what words can mean and how they can make you feel. I was working 50 miles from home that sunny fall day, the trees had amazing color, the wind was gentile however it had that cool breeze , there was a faint smell of burning wood in the air. Thinking to myself that day how amazing life is and how grateful I am to be in this place at this time in my life… Later that morning my phone rang it was my wife…She had gone over my folks house to “check in”. They live just down the street from house so we look after them on a regular basis, mom was helping out at school that day do day was all alone. I heard those words…you better come home something is wrong with your father. Now that’s words you never want to hear…My Dad was having a stroke…I rushed toward home driving like a madman…On my way home my wife called me to tell me my Dad was now at the hospital. When I arrived at the hospital he was is in the emergency room the doctors were trying to figure out what to do to save his life…It was determined my Dad needed to go to Mass General Hospital in Boston Mass via Med-flight.I can remember as they loaded Dad into the Med-flight I asked the doctor what were his chances ??? He turned and looked me dead in the eye and said…Son your Dad has a 50/50 percent chance of survival !!!!  More words I didn’t want to hear…Was...