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Newsworthy
Trends
Olive
& Bette's, a New York City 3-location client of
Page Keel's (North Carolina), is featured in "Spring
Fashion 2004", a special fashion publication of
"People" Magazine. The young, hip fashions
of Olive & Bette's were highlighted in the article
". . . What's in Store for Spring". The article
also named a couple of Olive & Bette's better known
customers: Jennifer Garner and Venus Williams. Under
construction is Olive & Bette's new virtual store
on the web. Kudos to Olive, Bette and Page!
Other
client stand-outs are two of Ted McCoy's (Idaho), both
located near Sun Valley, Idaho. "The Wood River
Journal" just announced the results of "Readers'
Choice 2003". North & Co. was selected as not
only the "Best Store for Women's Clothing"
but also the best for men's clothing too. Another of
Ted's clients, Silver Creek Outfitters, was voted as
the "Best Guide/Outfitter Store" in addition
to "Best Outdoor Door". Congratulations!
In
Tucson, Management One client, Cibaria Cucina Italiana,
had nearly two pages in "Inside Tucson Business"
written about them and their beneficial relationship
with Management One?. Karyn Veres, who owns Cibaria
with her talented chef husband Michael, stated, "My
best advice for other business owners is to feel comfortable.
You have to have trust and confidence. That's what we
have with Management One?, and it's turned out to be
a great opportunity for us." Affiliate Jim Meyer
(Tucson) worked with Evan and Marc to help Cibaria.
Give
This a Try
Go
through this graphic demonstration, if only in your
mind, to demonstrate a point:
-
Get a wide mouth jar. Fill it with rocks. ?
Is it a full jar?
-
Add fine gravel to the jar. Now is it full?
- Pour
some sugar into that jar. ? Hmmm. . .
-
Finally, pour water into that "full"
jar.
Your
schedule is like that jar in two ways:
1. You may think it's full but it's not, and
2. If you don't put the rocks in first, you won't be
able to fit them in at the end.
What
does number two illustrate about your schedule? If you
don't do the important things first, you're spending
your time on little things and the important ones don't
get done.
Quote
of the Day
"Perhaps
the most valuable result of all education is the ability
to make yourself to do the thing you have to do whether
you like it or not." —Thomas Huxley, Biologist
The
Monthly Meeting
Every
business owner should be certain to hold a performance
meeting each month. What is accomplished in four steps
and probably not much more than a half an hour is crucial
to the business.
Step
1 is to reveal three to five key measures for the health
of the company. Sales, gross margin, variable costs,
productivity, performance factor or whatever is meaningful
is fine. The same measures are reported each month.
Step
2 is to make the numbers meaningful: Ex.: "Sales
were $50,000 last month. Who knows the break even for
sales? How does that compare to the goals?"
Step
3 is a brief review of the steering team's and the charter
team's progress for the month. After all, every employee's
success, job and income depends on what the steering
team does.
Finally
? Step 4: Challenge everyone at the meeting to bring
ideas to the steering team, to the achievement team
or directly to the supervisor or the owner.
The
importance of the performance meeting cannot be underestimated.
It promotes focus, communication, inspiration and fresh
ideas in a mere 30 minutes!
On
a Departing Note
When
an employee leaves, when you lose a client or when bad
things happen, try to stay positive. Resist the temptation
to say any more than, "I'll miss him," or
"We need to look at the future, not the past."
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