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Greetings!
The New Year is upon us. And if you haven't already, it's time to take some time to set some goals for the coming year. Goals that will drive your actions to either continue to have what you have now or actions that will change your life and your business forever. 2009 seems to be the year of "Hope". But as I said in last month's Newsletter, "Hope is not a method". Sure, you can hope things get better - for the country, for the economy, for your business, for your marriage, or any other part of your life. But, the truth is, if you don't take personal responsibility for where you are today, and commit to making it change in the future, then all you can do is "hope" that someone else will make it happen for you. And that is a scary place to be - "hoping" that someone else will fix your problems or make you happy. So, in order to get you thinking about creating goals and inviting you into the process of holding me accountable, let me share with you, my friend, the goals I am committed to achieving this year. I commit to accomplishing all of the following this year: - To focus on providing real value to my clients and my readers - I will increase the value of this Newsletter, my Website, my new Blog (www.BizSuxS.blogspot.com), my seminars and all other products that Impossible Futures provides you and all it's other stakeholders. As measured by you, my friends, family, clients and future clients. - Building relationships that last - doing everything I can to reach out to old friends that I haven't heard from in months or years, staying close to ones that are currently in my life, and making new ones that last a lifetime. - Continually educating myself on the best methods of coaching and consulting others and in improving my own life. I will read at least two books per month and share the findings with you - both on here and through the website and blog. - Fully commit to doing my best. I will complete and publish one book this year - my first book. I will ensure that everything I write and say has relevance to you as a reader and listener and that you not only have the information, but also have a method to apply that knowledge in your own life. - I will begin the next phase of my career (combining in a real way everything I've learned from the Navy, my time as a Government Employee and my time as a Coach) - developing and expanding Impossible Futures and taking it to a whole new level (more to follow on this one). - And finally, but most importantly, I will be my best in every aspect of my life - from Dad to Son, friend to Coach, and from Brother to Uncle, I will be present and respect those I love - encouraging them to achieve their best at every turn as well. This will be judge by those around me. Good Luck in 2009!!JJ Reich CEO, Impossible Futures "If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal,
not to people or things."
Albert Einstein
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Join Me in the 21st Century!
Visit my Blog - Biz Sux-S!
On January 11th, Biz Sux-S, a blog to help small businesses achieve real business success, came to life. Biz Sux-S (pronounced Biz Success) is the near daily ramblings of our founder, JJ Reich, as he researches and studies what it takes to generate real success in both business and life in general. Unlike this Newsletter, Biz Sux-S is an interactive tool by nature. You, as readers, can provide comments on any of the stories and actually steer the conversation to where you want it to go, next. I invite you all to the site to check it out - and join me in the 21st Century. So join me in the Blogosphere. Vent, have some fun, and learn the real power of shared ideas - the power of brainstorming and inventive thought.
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For those of you that have met me and work with me regularly - you know that one of my strongest beliefs is that in order to change who you are, you must first change what and how you think - each and every day. This month's video is from SimpleTruths.com but it is inspired by one of the all time greatest Sales Trainers and Motivational Speaker, Zig Ziglar. This short video is a testiment to why you should surround yourself with inspiration and focus on making sure that you stay focused on what you want to create and be - EVERY DAY! Enjoy it and feel free to share it with your entire support team.
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Cash Is King
by JJ Reich
 As the first in the series of Four Critical Principles to Business Surviving the Recession, this month's primary topic is what CASH means to your business - and what you can do to generate cash.
Cash is the life blood of your business. In fact, it is the life blood of all businesses. But in a recession it becomes even more critical, because credit becomes more and more difficult to get and regular transfusions of cash are hard to come by. If you don't believe me, take a look at what is happening in the financial world. Banks are struggling! And that is primarily because they got caught in a severely over-leveraged position (too much credit on their books). They had too much debt and not enough saved up to protect themselves if a market decline were to occur (and it did). So when cash started drying up, they couldn't make their payments / cover their loans. Now, to try to recover from that, they are grasping for cash from every where they can. And unfortunately, they aren't lending it back out - because they don't trust that they will be able to get it again when / if they need it. What does all that mean to you and me, as Small Business Owners? Everything, because we are now feeling the same bind that they did 4-6 months ago. Sales are down, bills are still coming in, and now our "cash" is drying up. The question is, "How do I maintain a positive cash flow?" This article is intended to give you some basic ideas on what you can do to remedy the problem. The ideas are simple - but as you might expect they are not easy to implement. Which is why so many businesses are closing their doors - for good! Basically, there are four things you can do to improve your cash flow - your cash position. Those four things are: - Increase cash coming in (drive your sales up) - Accelerate the rate your accounts receivable are collected - Decrease cash going out (cut your expenses) - Slow down (delay) your accounts payable To learn about each of these four ways of improving your cash position, read the rest of the article.  |
This Month's Book Review
Think and Grow Rich
by Napolean Hill
 Think and Grow Rich is probably the most influential book written about how to become successful. From my perspective, most "personal success" and "self-help" authors' ideas and methods can in one way, shape or form be tracked back to Napolean Hill's ground breaking book.
And, one of the funniest things is that if you read the book today, you will be floored that it was written over 70 years ago. But if you think about it, 1937 (the original publishing date) was in the heart of the Great Depression, that so many people seem to want to compare our current condition to.
Think and Grow Rich was Napolean Hill's life work for over two decades. He was hired by Andrew Carnegie (then the richest man in America) to find the linkage that ties the most financially successful men in history.
What he found after interviewing over 500 successful people of his time was that they all followed the same path to success. The essence of what he found his "The Thirteen Steps to Riches". Those 13 steps are:
1. Desire - The starting point of all achievement
2. Faith - Visualization of, and belief in attainment of desire
3. Autosuggestion - The medium for influencing the subconscious mind
4. Specialized Knowledge - Personal experiences or observations
5. Imagination - The workshop of the mind
6. Organized Planning - The crystallization of desire into action
7. Decision - The mastery of procrastination
8. Persistence - The substance effort necessary to induce faith
9. The Power Of The Master Mind - Surround yourself and mingle with a great team of men and women
10. The Mystery of Sex Transmutation - The most powerful inspiration of all success
11. The Subconscious Mind - The connecting link
12. The Brain - A broadcasting and receiving station for thought
13. The Sixth Sense - The door to the temple of wisdom
If there is anything that you read this month or next - make this the book. And follow Mr. Hill's advice each step of the way. It will affect your life in a very powerful way.
And don't just read it once - finish it, and start over again. It's the second time through that you will find how to apply it to your own life.
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Tip of the Month
Change A Few Simple Words In Your Vocabulary!
I can't tell you how often I hear the following words at the beginning of a sentence; "I don't know how to . . ." (you can fill in the rest). Be honest, have you ever uttered them? Stop and think about it.
In my opinion, these five words are probably more damaging to people changing their lives than any other five words in the English language. Not because they hurt you physically or cause pain for someone else like threats or lies do. No, these words are so damaging because they kill your spirit if you say them. They destroy the chance of ever finding the solution to your problems.
When you utter words like "I don't know how to . . ." or "I can't . . .", you didn't just utter words of despair, you just told your subcoscious mind to not even bother trying to solve the problem - because its a waste of time. You'd rather just keep things the way they are.
However, if you change "I don't know how to . . ." to "How do I . . ." what you will do is invite your subconscious mind to find a solution - to find the answer to the question. You open up your spirit and mind to the solutions that could be the answer to the question. Literally, you allow the opportunity for a solution to exist - which is the first step to actually being able to create the solution.
So, do me a favor. NO, do yourself a favor!!! Everytime you hear yourself utter the words, "I don't know how to . . ." or "I can't . . .",
STOP yourself right there!!!
And rephrase your statement to ask the question, "How do I . . ."
You might not find the solution right away - but I promise, YOU WILL find a solution. And I can almost guarantee, that the solution is within you - just waiting to come out.
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And one final thought from a old teacher of mine that really applies in this situation that I have to share.
"Things are only hard until you figure out how to do them.
Then they are easy."
It may sound crazy, but if you stop and think about it, there is an amazing clarity and truth in the simplicity of the words.
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