Everywhere you go today (or any other day for that matter), there are people walking around lamenting the economy. They are waiting for an “economic recovery”, talking about the recession, and seeing evidence to support how ‘bad it is’ everywhere they go.

There are also people who see it very differently. Their economy doesn’t seem to be bad.

What gives?

The difference begins with how you see it.

(Right off the bat, let me start by saying this: This post isn’t about minimizing the pain that many have gone through. It is about shifting your perspective and bringing you to a more open  frame of mind that can improve your own economy, so stay with me. Just open up one little corner of your mind to the possibility that it might be possible to make your own financial life and business a bit better, okay?)

What are you looking for?

1. First off, as with most things, we view everything in life through our own lens. Yes, it all seems like reality to us, but EVERYTHING is subject to our own beliefs.
2. If you listen to talk radio, or watch the news all day long, you probably think “the world is going to hell in a hand basket”, if you don’t you probably see the world in a different way.  Our brains are wired to support our beliefs.
3. We have a reticular activator in our brain that filters everything we see and hear to search for and allow in only that which is relevant to us and our beliefs. If you hear a commercial for a horse farm for example, and you aren’t interested in horse farms, it ‘goes in one ear and out the other’.  If you hear a commercial for a great sale at a local auto dealership and you are actively looking for a car, you ‘tune in’. If you have told yourself 1000 times that “the economy sucks”, everywhere you turn you will ‘hear proof’ of that. You will tune in to every complaint, every negative news story, and every statistic to support your belief. I always say that the reticular activator is like that ‘best friend’ who wants you to be right, and doesn’t tell you what you really need to hear.

There is evidence everywhere to support every belief. Are you subconsciously looking for proof that it’s bad, or that it is still good enough to support you and your family?

When I went out to a local shopping center the other day, I’ll tell you what I saw. The deli was packed with barely a table to be had (at 2pm in the afternoon no less!). The parking lot was full, and there were plenty of people in line with non-necessities and even higher priced items. Everyone that I saw in line at the wine store spent at least $100.

If there were 1000 homes sold in your community last month, and you are in real estate for example, think about it! Do you really need more than that! No. In fact, you could do quite well with only one or two of those sales!

Recognize what numbers mean: I had a college professor that used to say: “statistics are like bikini’s. What they show is interesting, but what they  cover up is vital!” Numbers are used to tell a story. A story that the person telling it wants you to hear. As Zig Ziglar used to say “why is it that weather casters always say 20% chance of rain instead of there is an 80% chance of sunshine?”  Newscasters believe that we only listen to bad news, and will always skew the numbers to raise ratings. People who are sad and depressed will only talk about what is sad and depressing. Remember that there is always an opposite side.

Let’s look at a few of the ‘realities’ people talk about every day, and the numbers that go along with them…

“Everyone’s getting laid off. So many people are out of work…”

• The current unemployment rate is 9% – That means that 91% of the population is NOT unemployed!
• And many people have gotten promotions and raises too ( I know a few)
  

“Yeah, but there are a lot of business owners and others that aren’t on unemployment”

• Ok…even if you DOUBLED IT that would mean at least 82% are employed!
• There are also people who got laid off and started businesses, or started consulting and now make more money that they did at their job.

“People are only buying necessities. The high end market is gone”

“Tiffany, the luxury jewelry retailer, reported a 9 per cent increase in sales for the second quarter of 2010 over the comparable period a year ago”

“Neiman Marcus, the luxury department store chain, reported a 7.6 per cent jump in revenues for the quarter”

(From Financial Times)

• “Only some industries are doing ok”…or “Those companies that got bailouts are ok, but the rest of us are suffering…”

“Southwest Airlines’ Quarterly Profit Rises 23%”

“Coca-Cola net income up 23%…Juices and other drinks posted a 10% gain in sales volume in the quarter, while soft drinks rose 3%.”

“Caterpillar’s quarterly earnings up 91 percent”

Barnes & Nobles sales increased by 42%

How about smaller businesses?

• AssistantAngel.com a virtual assistant company started in November of 2009 and was having to put customers on a waiting list within 6months
• Leslie Flowers, a personal growth facilitator – Business increase in 2010 = 75%

• Frank Myers Auto Maxx in Winston Salem realized an astonishing 1-year growth of 22% and a 5-year growth of 133%.

I find this particularly telling and compelling. There are few industries harder hit during the past 2 years (IMO) than the auto industry, so I asked Tracy Myers to contribute whatever wisdom he would offer to you regarding this topic.

Here is what he had to say:

With the rest of the automotive industry in a downward spiral with no end in the immediate future, my car dealership had their best year ever PLUS was named the #1 small business in NC. Why?

Because my Team Members BELIEVE they are winners. They are successful because they BELIEVE they will be successful.

Napoleon Hill said it best: “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Thoughts are things! And powerful things at that, when mixed with definiteness of purpose, and burning desire, can be translated into riches. Use auto-suggestion, have faith, imagination and overcome fear and time is your opposite player as in checkerboard.”

Simply by ignoring the “gloom and doom” being preached by everyone else and believing in the common goal of being successful REGARDLESS of what the economy dictates, we are able to have record opportunities which have translated to record profits. ~Tracy Myers (follow Tracy on twitter he is amazing!)

“That may all be true, but it doesn’t change the fact that MY business is bad!”

Is it bad? Or is it less than it was?

I remember during the housing slump in 90′s my grandmother (who was a Broker during the 80′s when interest rates were 20%) put it in perspective this way;

“When you’re used to going 120mph, and you drop to 85, it feels really slow, but it isn’t”

If it truly IS ‘bad’, consider that it might not be the economy. It might be you!

(Ouch! That hurts to think about, but it may just be true!)

Are you still doing business the way that you always did?

The old adage “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten” doesn’t even apply anymore. It’s supposed to mean that you won’t ever get MORE, yet now you often don’t even get what you used to!

There are many factors that come into play in today’s world. The economy is just one.

Social media has changed the way that people choose and buy,

Corporate failures have changed how we trust,

The fear factor around the economy has changed how we buy and what we value.

A LOT more than the economy has changed!

The world has changed! It changes every day!

Has YOUR cheese moved!

(if you didn’t get that, read “who moved my cheese” or watch this video)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Have YOU changed?

• Are you still doing business the way that you always did?
• How have you adjusted, or reinvented your business to keep up with the changing times?
• Do you have a clear compelling message that speaks directly to a specific audience that you serve?
• Are your products or services still relevant, or do you need to update or change them?

I’ll cover more on this in a later post! But for now, recognize that the first thing that has to change is the way that you are thinking, and what you are looking for.

For now, simply recognize that you may just be seeing clouds and no sunshine. That doesn’t mean it’s not there!

(It’s easy to do! Trust me! I could SO easily go into negative mode, and rant and rave about politics, the economy and who’s to blame, etc! That is EASY to do! But I know that would only make me feel like crap, and repel any hope of new opportunities or prosperity!)

• So,  I choose to see that there are people buying.  They don’t ALL have to be. There are more than enough who are. I don’t need them ALL.

• I  choose to seek new information and wisdom, and grow myself so that I can grow my business.

• I choose to look for proof that there is enough to go around, and find people who are willing to pay for value.

• I choose to never utter the words “I can’t afford” (especially in front of my children!) and recognize that instead “I am not choosing to invest my money here at this time”

• I choose to find ways to invest my money in those things that will increase the value of me and myself, and therefore bring value to my family, and those around me.

• I choose to recognize that money must flow. Just as you must exhale in order to inhale, and I choose to remember these great words from the book “The Richest Man in Babylon”…

“A clenched fist is not open to receive”

I hope you will choose the same…and see YOUR economy change!

There are so many ‘parts’ of this topic, I cannot cover them all in one post, but I will expound on them in future posts based on your comments.

Stay tuned for a post on how to adapt to the new marketplace and how others are too!

What have you heard about Facebook Places?

Like  ‘all things facebook’ , you may have heard a lot of hype, and even panic.

Relax!

Let’s put it in perspective.

First, what is it?

Facebook places is simply a way that people can ‘check in’ at locations when they choose to.

(This is not a new concept! It’s only new to facebook)

Thousands of people have been using the similar Foursquare, and others that have come along. Twitter and others have added the ability to ‘add your location’ in the past year using the geolocation feature that most cell phones now have.

What’s the point?

1. Let’s say your at a concert. You can find out who is there that you know (if they’ve checked in)

2. Say you’re in an area of town with some time before your next appointment. You notice that a friend just checked in at a nearby coffee shop. So, you stop in and visit!

3. You notice several friends ‘checked in’ at the same restaurant. Next time you’re in the area, you will be sure to check it out!

4. One more way to share what is going on in your life…Instead of posting “I’m going to borders”, you just ‘check in’.

5. There are lots of reasons! (Be sure to add yours in the comments:) Foursquare became a ‘big hit’ in part to the competitive nature of it’s awards for checking in.

Facebook is simply jumping in the game as others have.

What is true and what is hype?

• Contrary to what I’ve seen posted in a variety of places, your location won’t be posted every time you log into facebook.
• ‘Checking in’ is available only via the iphone and touch.facebook phone applications.
• Others CAN post your location. Like tagging a photo or video, friends can ‘tag’ you as being with them at this location. I’m not sure why anyone would want to tag you in a location that you aren’t, but as with photos, they could. (This feature can be disabled via your privacy settings even from your phone)

What is there to fear? (Not as much as you might think)

• Yes, people will know where you are (if you check in or someone tags you).
• If you have concerns about that, disable the tagging, and don’t check in.
• Do you post where you are, or where you are going on facebook now? This isn’t so different.
• If you don’t have the feature disabled that allows friends to tag you, you can remove the tag just as you can remove a tag from photos, videos, etc.

This is just my perspective on Facebook Places. What’s yours?

How to Find your Privacy Settings

Changing your privacy settings

More info:

More information re: facebook

Facebooks tour of places

Facebooks own blog post on Places

Facebook Places vs. Foursquare Vote on Mashable.com

Latest posts re: Facebook Places via Google Realtime search

Google launched realtime search last December, but they have now ‘kicked it up a notch” by giving it its own home page. Basically it is a Google search page that updates in real time. Unlike ‘regular’ Google searches which often have ‘top results’ that are years old, these searches will produce them as they are posted.  While sorting the data based on things like ‘number of people who have clicked on this one’ is believed to be useful based on the assumption that those sites that have been most visited, are more relevant and valuable, that is not always the case.

The world is changing faster than I can type! Some things need to be more current than others. Technology for example. It doesn’t really matter to me if a blog has a gazillion visitors and therefore gets top placement if I am looking for information on facebook for example. Last years ‘how to’ information is likely no longer relevant.  I have been searching for medical information a lot lately and there is another area where I want the very latest [even if it's on a more obscure site] findings, research, etc.

A big part of this real-time search is twitter. Just go look at the results rolling in on the page. That is where a lot of the data is coming from. This again can be very useful! Think about it…

Going back to my medical search. I am searching for the latest greatest content on a condition called Paralytic Ileus.  If by chance, someone happened to be tweeting about that as I was searching, I would be thrilled! Now I have someone that I can reach out to and connect with and learn more from, as opposed to just an article or abstract.

Imagine the person who is thinking of relocating to the area.  Let’s say they are searching Google for family friendly activities in the Raleigh area (where I live) and you happen to post a blog post, or tweet a link about that very thing. Voila! Not only do they get to read whatever you posted, but they get to connect with you!  We all love information, but there is simply something irreplaceable about connecting with PEOPLE.

Now you might be thinking “that only helps me if they search at that exact time”. Perhaps,  depending on the content. People may not be posting new content as quickly as you might think.  But that wasn’t even a possibility before! Your post will still be ‘out there’ in Google land, just as it always would have been. This is just another ‘place’ or ‘way’ that it shows up.

How to use Google Realtime Search?

You can either go to http://www.google.com/realtime

or just type whatever you are searching for into your Google toolbar and then on the results page choose “updates” on the left side!

So, what does it mean to you?

As a business person [or anyone posting content]:

In my opinion, it could mean:

a) it doesn’t affect you in any way because you aren’t contributing anything to the internet pool on a consistent basis, or

b) it can mean that you now a little bit of additional opportunity for people to find you and your content, and a ‘level playing field’ in the land of Google, if even for a brief period of time.

As a ‘consumer’ or person searching for information, it allows you to find up to the minute information and more easily connect with people who are experts in, or interested in the same information that you are looking for.

Of course, like all things new we will have to wait and see how it all pans out.

What do you think? Do you see any other good/bad points that I haven’t mentioned?

(Oh, and you can click here for the Google “how to use Google realtime video”)

I recently had an experience with a business person who finished up our meeting by saying “you will definitely hear back from us within 6 days”.

Hmm…Interesting, I thought. “Six days” isn’t a typical response, nor would it have been my expectation. The “6 days” made it really stand out and ‘cemented’ in my mind.  Prior to that, I really didn’t know what to expect as far as a ‘decision time”, but their promise gave me a clear expectation.

Funny thing happens when someone says “6 days”…you find yourself looking at the calendar as you check your inbox. Afterall, they set up the expectation.  I didn’t need a response in that time frame, but that is what they promised. They could’ve said 2 weeks or a month, and that would’ve been ok with me, but they didn’t.

So what happened when day 7 rolled around and I had no email? I was irked.  Now that it’s been 13 days?

I am REALLY irked!

The truth is, I don’t really care what the decision is. I am truly not attached in any way. So why am I so peeved?

Because a promise was made I guess. Because I didn’t create the expectation, they did, and then they didn’t honor it. Maybe that sounds silly, but it doesn’t change how I feel.

Now I have NO desire whatsoever to do business with them, even if it may benefit me. None…

Good reason? Bad reason? It doesn’t matter really. Starting off a business relationship with a sour taste in your mouth is never a good thing.

So, what can I learn from this? What can we all learn?

Don’t create an expectation and then not live up to it. That sounds pretty simple. But think about it…

How many times do we create that expectation when we really didn’t even need to?

The old adage is “under promise and over deliver” and yet how often do we promise something that a customer or prospect doesn’t even expect?

I’m not saying that I have never gotten back to someone as timely as they might have expected, I am sure that I have. The difference is the ‘creation’ of the expectation. In today’s world there are some who expect a reply within hours, others within days.

The point to think about is how WE create it, and how we honor it.

Integrity means ‘doing what you say you will do”.
It doesn’t mean you have to do anything in a certain time or way, but if you say you are going to do it, do it!

It reminds me of years ago early in my real estate career. My grandmother (a Broker of 30 years) sent me a referral. I had set an appointment for 4pm on a Saturday, and realized after my prior appointment ran long, that I would be late. I called the woman to tell her that I was on my way, but would be a half an hour late. She told me ‘not to bother’ and went on to chew me out!

I was mortified! With my ‘tail between my legs’ I hung up and called grandma. I wasn’t sure which I felt worse about: the women hating me, or letting my grandma down. All I knew was I felt like a 7 year old who just did something she knew she was in big trouble for!

When I told my grandma her response was “what were you thinking????”
I started to explain about how I didn’t know the other appointment would take so long, blah, blah, blah and she interrupted “NO, what were you thinking giving her an exact time?! You are in Real Estate honey, nothing happens on time! Never ever promise someone an exact time! Tell them you’ll be there between 4 and 5, and make every effort to be there at 4! But if something happens, you can still honor your promise and be there by 5!”

In any case, it was a great bit of wisdom then, and now.

Not just about time, but about all things. Stuff happens, life happens…

Plan for that and know that what you expect your self to do, may not be what they expect. They may not expect a fancy written proposal for example, or they may not expect you to meet them in person or follow up within twenty minutes. Some do, some don’t. So simply let them know what to expect!

I read somewhere many years ago “our disappointments are in direct proportion to our expectations”. How true that is! Give your clients or prospects the ‘gift of clarity’ and let them know what to expect, and then honor it!
No matter what! Even if you have to call and say “I don’t have the answer yet”, they will appreciate and respect you for that.

The key to business these days (IMO) is being:
Real, Relevant and Remarkable

This is just one way (and an easy way!) that you can be remarkable!

Please share your thoughts!

(Originally posted by HeatherO on inside919.com)

We all know people who some would call “pollyanna” and others that would be [kindly] labeled ‘negative nellies’. There are, of course a whole host of others in between (drama queens, Debbie downer, etc).

I fall on the higher end of the ‘positive’ spectrum, most of the time, but I didn’t used to. Contrary to popular belief, you aren’t just ‘born that way’ and the excuse ‘I was raised that way’ doesn’t fly too well with me either. I dispel both of those myths.

So why is it that some people are positive and some are negative?

Well, there are a lot of reasons. The first is awareness. Most positive people choose to be. Negative folks are often unaware that they are, or at least they believe that it is their circumstances, not ‘them’.

They are the ‘realistic people’…

They are the:

• ‘you have to be prepared for the worst’ people,

• the ‘don’t set yourself up for failure people’ and

• the ‘that’s impossible’ people

…all rolled up into one. Unfortunately, those people live and breathe on this planet with the rest of us, and in order to preserve their belief that it’s all out of their control, they need to suck the rest of us into their stinking thinking. They aren’t necessarily aware in any way, they just know that the way they think is ‘the right way’ and even if it’s not, they don’t want to hear it.

They wrap themselves up in a blanket of ‘logic’ and ‘reason’ and loads of evidence to support their belief.

They are prepared, and they are not ‘kidding themselves’.

They are ruled by fear. Fear of disappointment, fear of hurt and sometimes, fear of taking responsibility.

The ‘reality’ is that there is more than enough evidence that supports the power of positive thinking. There is more than enough evidence to prove that the world is filled with hope and possibility. Unfortunately, those things are only visible to those who choose to see it. It is invisible to those who are convinced that it isn’t there.

So what do you do?

How do you protect yourself from the Hope Snatchers?

1. First comes faith. In fact, this post should probably be called Invasion of the Faith Snatchers, but I didn’t want folks to get all tripped up on that word. For some that makes their head go off and imagine evangelicals and that isn’t what I mean at all. Faith comes in many forms. Faith in God, faith in yourself, faith in mankind, the world, etc. With faith there is hope and possibility. Without it?

2. Smile and silently say to yourself “they are simply unaware” (thanks to Leslie Flowers for that mantra. I have worn it out!

3. Choose whether to engage. In some cases, I think people need to be called out. If you know them well, believe that they just don’t realize how negative they are, or simply feel like you have to, call them on it. Do it nicely, but say something like “wow, did anything good happen today?” Or direct them to shift by saying something like “so what can you do about it?” Or, you can politely say something like “I understand your point of view, mine is a little different, but I can appreciate yours…”

4. Tune OUT. More often than not, this may be the best way to go. As a friend of mine once pointed out “do you really think they are going to listen to you and say Oh my God! How could I have been so wrong all these years. I had no idea! Thank you for saving me!” So, tuning them out will preserve your sanity and save you from pounding your head into the wall. Unless they are choosing to be in a conversation about the value of being positive, the moment in time that they are in full blown ‘realistic mode’ is probably not the time to try to change them. Nod, smile and sing “Over the rainbow” in your head until their lips stop moving.

5. Detox. If you walk away and find that in spite of your best efforts, you were infected anyway (it is contagious afterall!), then immediately detox. Do NOT allow yourself to play it over and over in your head. Turn on some music, play a funny or inspiring video. For me the fastest way is to whip out a pen and start writing down all of the things that I am grateful for (which often includes not being like them:). Gratitude will edge out just about any negative emotion faster than anything else!

6. Avoid. Then there is always the ‘avoid them’ approach. You can love them at a distance, without allowing them in your space. Now, I get some resistance to this one sometimes. People will say ‘but they need your help! they need you to lift them up!’. Some people are open to help, others are not. Sometimes you have to use your best judgement to figure out who is who. In either case, as I said before, if they are in a rant, they probably just want to wallow in it for the moment and that is not the best time. If you struggle yourself with being positive, it is even more important to avoid the Hope snatchers until you are stronger. Having a negative attitude is a habit. Don’t set yourself up if you are still trying to break it. You wouldn’t tell someone who is trying to quit smoking that they should go sit in a smoke filled bar and try to help the patrons quit!

7. Meditate. I don’t mean you have to sit cross-legged and hum or anything, but closing your eyes and having a nice calm image in mind, or having a nice calming and affirming conversation with yourself while taking slow deep breaths really does help! You know how you would mentally calm yourself when kids would get on your last nerve? Yeah, do that.

8. Create your own way. Lastly, create your own way. I have an imaginary ‘warrior’ that I jokingly call upon to kick the negative voices in my own head (hey, it makes me shift, makes me laugh. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t). If you love to run, bike, sing, whatever, do that!

Whatever you do, remember:

• it IS a choice!

• “Realistic” is a word used almost exclusively to suck the faith and hope and possibility out of anyone. Remember that there are millions of examples of “unrealistic possibilities” coming true! The lightbulb wasn’t realistic before it was invented, neither was the personal computer, the cell phone, a man walking on the moon…There are millions of people who survived when there was “0 chance”.

• Happiness and hope are available to all of us. Don’t let anyone snatch yours!

(and just in case you’re interested, I just ordered this button! Click on the picture to order yours

When you are in business mode, marketing is a word that ‘speaks to you’. If you not, it also speaks to you…although maybe not in a good way.

The words ‘marketing’ and ‘selling’ are now seemingly on the ‘bad words’ list, and perhaps rightfully so. We all know there are ‘those salespeople’ who give all a bad name. We have all been marketed to when we didn’t ask or want to be. We have TiVo’d our way out of commercials, “Do Not Call listed” our way out of cold calls. If someone knocks on our door we are likely to slam it in their face.

Marketing and selling are not bad things. We all need stuff, and we need to know which stuff is better, and in some cases, we need a salesperson to help us buy it. The trouble is in the manner in which it is done. Sadly, the manner in which both are done have become ‘bad’. The intention is often bad, the definitions are often bad, and therefore the words are even “bad”.

Sales vs. Marketing

First let’s look at sales, or selling. The word selling comes from the Old English word “sellan” which means “to give”. If you read the current definitions however, you get things like: