OCTOBER THOUGHTS

Challenges for the Small Business Owner

From a survey of 1000 sole proprietors, the top challenges for them included:

1) The inability to focus on generating new business

2) Spreading time across multiple projects or roles

3) Limited resources

4) Running their business more efficiently

5) Not having enough time to focus on own passions

When you work alone or with a small group of people it is easy to be distracted. There are so many items that seem important and it is hard to know which ones to ignore. It seems like “that one might be the one” and so you pursue it until a dead end appears. Unfortunately, your time and financial resources get stretched even further.

Gurus tend to be a distraction more than offering value. Everyday it seems like experts surface with the solutions to your problems. It is difficult to evaluate all this knowledge and know when to leave it alone. Until you have been through it you just don’t know when new ideas or knowledge will help you. Experience does matter. One idea for evaluation: if the guru is selling something that is going fix your problem quickly and improve your bottom line, you can safely move on without a second thought.

There are professional groups that can help such as SCORE, the Small Business Administration, college business schools and your local chamber of commerce. These organizations give you a chance to ask questions and to learn how to ask questions that may help you analyze if the “new knowledge” is valuable or just re-hashed time wasters.

Most importantly, research, learn and be prepared before you start your business. If you start with a clear direction you are less likely to be distracted by the daily bombardment of ideas that will capture your time. In doing your homework beforehand you may also discover a key voice or someone who will be your mentor through the process. Think about it: in nearly every successful business story there has been two people that work together to develop their ideas, support and help each other resist the temptation to be distracted.

What is a Generation Y?

Baby Boomers, Generation X and now Generation Y; who are these people? Baby Boomers represent the graying of America, the AARP generation and the more than 70 million population group that will crash Medicare and Social Security over the next 10 years.

Generation X are the kids of Baby Boomers that were going to bring new thinking and direction to American society. Generation X are the people who are going to take care of the environment, the poor and homeless and keep society strong.

Generation Y are people born between 1982 and 2000, who are influencing the consumer habits of families. These are the kids were born to shop and are influencing their parents as to what is “cool.” From a marketing and manufacturing standpoint, Generation Y picks products that will help them stand out among their peers.

For example, Gen Y may pick a certain brand name and heavily promote it to friends and family. It may be a computer, an MP3 player, sweaters, pants, shoes or cars. They will focus on this item to build their image. Gen Y may have the most expensive plasma TV but at the same time will buy clothes in thrift shops or via eBay. That person wants to be known for his or her TV.

In promoting or marketing your products or services to the Gen Y consumer, you need to rely on viral marketing and get some notoriety from Gen Y influencers. That group is the savvy consumer and they will help you gain access to other consumer groups.

The Blogosphere

According to research by USA Today, since March 2004, the blogosphere has doubled in size every 5 to 7 months and now has over 53 million blogs. Everyday nearly 2 blogs per second are created and there are 1.6 million daily postings or 66,600 per hour.

By language, 39 percent of blogs are written in English, 31 percent Japanese, 12 percent Chinese and 2 percent in Spanish. Only about 40 percent of bloggers (people who write blogs) tend to stay active for at least 3 months.

Visit www.3MinuteLearning.com

GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE

© 2006 3 Minute Learning LLC

SMOKING and DRUGS

Tobacco Use Drops

The percentage of boys and girls ages 12 to 17 that used tobacco products is dropping. In 2002, the reported use was 12.3 and 13.6 percent for boys and girls respectively. By 2005 the use had dropped to 10.7 and 10.8 percent respectively.

Since the early 1970’s, smoking education programs have been in place in K-12 education. All the non-profit health organizations such as heart, lung and cancer have introduced games, booklets, videos and mascots to send the message to K-12 students that smoking is harmful and needs to be avoided. After nearly 35 years of effort, the programs seem to be working.

Or are they? The cost for a pack of cigarettes has increased dramatically, enforcement agencies have deterred small shop owners from selling to minors and society in general has shunned the habit with more laws banning public smoking. And, in the workplace, employment may hinge on answering the question about whether or not you smoke. Some companies have targeted employed smokers whenever there are terminations.

These messages may be stronger than education. Adults see smoking as a negative behavior even among the ones who smoke. This kind of talk around their children sends a message of disgust and that may be the turning point. Researchers know that children follow the lead of their parents. If they hear enough negative talk about smoking, health and social acceptance that may be the trigger point not to start.

Education about smoking now completes the adoption of non-smoking behavior by reinforcing what the child hears at home. As long as the program focuses on healthy alternatives to a smoking lifestyle that can be as satisfying, smoking among young people will be minimized but not totally eliminated.

To completely eradicate smoking among school students of all ages, schools need to influence the social circles of peer groups. Every school has cliques and they are part of the dominating social circles. The leadership in these larger circles needs to be influenced so they set the trend of not smoking. If you lose any of these social influencers, many more students will follow and the drop in smoking numbers may start to reverse.

Stop Anti-Drug Campaigns

Is there anyone who really believes that people who use drugs will be influenced by commercials showing “eggs in a frying pan?” Remember the crash and burn films in driver’s ed that were supposed to encourage safe driving? Behaviorists know that people use “cognitive dissonance” to justify their behaviors, even ones as simple as buying new clothes. In essence, we can talk ourselves into anything that we want to pursue.

The Government Accountability Office issued a report in August 2006, that reveals anti-drug campaigns are not working and should end. The campaign actually seems to be increasing drug use. The 2007 budget has requested $170 million to continue the commercials, a $20 million increase over this year’s budget. Why?

Here’s another scenario where the survival of bureaucracy is trying to trump the science of investigation. If independent research says “it’s not working,” then why continue along those same strategies? Why not investigate other ideas that may have an impact? When it comes to drug abuse and how to minimize its spread, there are many credible voices that need to be heard.

The “war on drugs” began in the 1970’s (a familiar theme?) generally has not deterred the use of drugs despite some instances of success. The harder to achieve (with more long-term results) solutions that would have a greater impact are too much “leg-work” for those in bureaucracy. These solutions call for stronger education at all grade levels, better housing and prospects for employment and raising the hopes of those that for generations have struggled. In general, give people a reason not to use drugs or to sell drugs as a way out of their environment.

Solving drug abuse at the social level is not as glamorous as tracking down and capturing drug lords but it is the long-term solution that makes sense. Cut off the demand and you will eliminate the supplier.

Hoopla Around Professional Models

Recently, the annual fashion shows were making their rounds across the globe introducing new styles. Young girls are influenced by these glamorous people. The result is to do whatever is necessary to keep thin. While a certain degree of thinness is healthy, purposely denying your body of nutrients during the “growing years” will result in long-term chronic illness such as heart disease and osteoporosis. Fortunately, this devotion to thinness appears to be short-term infatuation.

Professional models often wear a size 4; the size most often sold in retail is size 14. The average proportion of physical features for size 4 is 32-24-35. For size 14 the attributes are 38-31-42. If young girls can make it through the formative years with minimal bodily damage, it appears they will “catch up” as they get older.

Physical fitness needs to be stressed more as a healthy way of creating thinness not only during the teen years but for life. As with all behavioral issues, quality alternatives need to be introduced in order to replace the negative choice.

Visit www.3MinuteLearning.com

GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE

© 2006 3 Minute Learning LLC