By Aaron Patella
It was a mild revelation that occurred to me, one morning, in the dusting of winter snow that was falling that day. But one of the most under utilised professional trainings that there is out there is stage-manager! Think of what is required to accomplish the task of any project. -Having the ability to organise complex activities -Managing diva personalities -Being able to organise thousands of objects in time and space. -Coordinating people and actions in real time with picture perfect timing. -Maintaing the integrity of a vision and a plan...
read moreWithout having to say it again there aren’t many arrogant self-centred people that you want to ask out for a beer or hang around with. So why would you want to hire someone like that? Generosity is the key to social media marketing. When you want to attract people help them. Give them everything that they need to advance things themselves. When it becomes really hard they’re going to want help because doing the hard stuff alone sucks…now who are they going to call when it comes down to the hard stuff…the one who helped...
read moreThe problem with promises, implicit or tacit, is that they create expectations. So what? Here’s the problem with that: As business owners we make promises, whether you want to or not. When we make a promise we are creating the future for other people. People come and expect that something will happen within a reasonable delay and with respect and a fair price. I have stopped using stores for numerous reasons, all related to failed expectations. One of the local sporting stores wanted to charge me for warentee support for a product...
read moreCharm is a wonderful thing. I love a charmer, someone who comes along with a big smile and is eager to help. That is the best kind of reception that we can receive; if they have a desire to fulfil your desires and expectations. All of these things are really pleasant to find in your environment. But there is another side to the charmer’s personality. They expect you to say yes to their effort. They are not used to being denied for no other reason but you don’t feel like it. You are supposed to be polite and accept their...
read moreIn any hierarchical relationship there is the a social contract in play. You may ask “Why are you writing about this, Aaron?” and you’ll see that it makes a difference to your clients how your employees feel about their work and workplace. This image comes to mind… This whole thing is related to broken window theory. The less you maintain your workplace the less people respect it, the more you maintain it the better people feel about being there. As the owner of your business, you have to provide a number of things...
read moreThe entrepreneur is perhaps one of the most privileged classes of society that exists. But it is our job to remember that one thing is more important than any other: The old adage of “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day of your life” is the most acceptable form of class suppression that modern society has come up with throughout our history. DWYL ( Do what you love) is something that we tell our workers as a way of making them responsible for their choices. As a consequence, it also removes our responsibility to...
read moreIf you do business with people you need to understand the above image of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs! (we’ll look at attachment theory in the next article!) But you need to understand what your client needs to get done. What level of need do they need to fulfill. It will heavily taint your approach…or at least it should! When we consider for example why most men buy a lawn mower, it’s not because they spend all night wondering whether the grass blades are too long. It’s because they have multiple pressures...
read moreThere are only seven ways to make money. An immense number of things can be transacted in these seven ways but there are only seven ways to sell things. Sale of an object, User fees, Memberships, Rental, Licensing fees, Brokerage fees, Advertising fees. That’s it. And it is through understanding your clients and their capacity to pay for something that we choose the appropriate method. What is it that people need, why do they want to hire your products or services and how do they expect to use what you have to sell. So let’s...
read moreBRAND! The greatest act anyone can do is creation. Brand is one thing that we are told daily not to do. We are told not to pretend to be something else, be genuine, you can’t judge a book by its cover, blah, blah, blah. Life is made up of people looking out their windows and judging things; the neighbours, the lawn, someone’s car, the computer that someone uses, you name it. So what is a brand? It is the greatest lie because it is a fabulation that you are going to choose to represent ideals. Those things that we can never...
read morePeople are meaning-making-machines. We need meaning, we need to find reasons and relationships. Try and get away in a world that is empty and meaningless and you will fall in between the cracks filled with those who provide people with meaning. So if you choose a company name that has no meaning, internal or external, people will have a hard time making yous stick in their heads. When I started my Storage business, I spent about 8 months finding the name that would work. I founded Casa Grande self storage. Why? Because, we went through...
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