Your Business Is Not You

“If those who are sent to draw water begin by drinking themselves,

 the army is suffering from thirst.” 

― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Starting a business is an incredibly brave thing to do. It is to make a commitment to an idea that you don't know for sure will work, and will require you to put all your money and your time and your effort into building.

All for a crazy dream.

After a while though, if you are fortunate, the business will be more than an idea. It will be a real living breathing entity that makes money and serves customers and has needs of its own. It needs to be tended and fed and watered and needs good air to breathe to enable it to be healthy. The business needs the weeds pulled and the grass mowed and kept tidy so it can be as productive as possible.

To see the business as its own entity and not just a dream in our mind now, that's a critical point for any business owner to reach.

Some never do.

Some owners of a business continue to regard their business as an extension of themselves.   "This is my business, the money in the till is mine and all I have to think about is what I want."

That works for a while but it doesn't allow the business to grow true and strong.

Any business has needs that are not the needs of the owner.  This is your business, but the money in the till is not yours and the business needs you to think about what it needs not just what you want.

We sometimes dream of having a child and when we do we learn that a dream of a child is different from the reality of a child. Real children are messy and grow and need new things as they get older, demand more from parents and learn the lessons that let them develop into individuals who can think and make decisions so that they can, when the time is right, be independent and confident.

The way we care for a baby is not the way we care for a teenager, though we love them just as much.

The same goes for a business.

The business grows and matures, the marketplace changes and new realities emerge that the business must deal with. This can mean a need for new skills, new methods of operating, better attention to detail and delivery. Consistent marketing to bring the oxygen that the sustains the business.

Sometimes - often - what the business needs, is not what the owner wants.

What then?

Business owners have a choice. To continue to do the brave thing. To steward the business to develop into a healthy strong entity. To empower it to succeed and be the best it can be.

Or do what they want instead.

Repurpose, Reuse And Recycle!

Lately I have been fascinated with the work that some people are doing in turning discarded and outdated items into beautiful pieces  that anyone would be happy to have in their home.

Confirmation once again if we needed it,  that a better life - doesn't need to be expensive. 

Consider buying furnishings for a house. New pieces that are often now made to look like 'retro' pieces, but made cheaply, compared to original pieces that can be bought cheaply but are well made. 

Renovating items and giving them a new purpose. Fantastic! 

What I notice as I collect a lot of strange things on Pinterest is the way that the mind changes in the way we view items, when we learn to look beyond now at what is and look instead to how something could be and what else it might be useful for that is not the original purpose but could work a treat and turn into a funky new unique addition to the house. And it's cheap, so there is no real risk, having a go to make something of it. And if you don't like it you can either do it over or give it away.

Having Fun With Your Imagination

On the other hand it is a deal if you can buy something for little money and make it the way you want it rather than spending a few thousand dollars to buy something that in a while you might want to change again. 

A simple canvas frame from the dollar store becomes a stunning wall decoration. 

Even clothes can have a new lease on life. 

No need to buy new fabric if you have an old piece of clothing you can recut to fit the purpose. 

Not even any paint needed for this transformation - just use washi tape for a new look. 

Beautiful signature gift wrapping with simple style.  

Old glassware is great to buy from a thrift shop and used here  with a length of chain to make a bird feeder. 

Old cans painted in bright colours make a splash and look more interesting than plastic pots.

Old baskets get new life in the garden.

Outdoor furniture can be expensive but why not go for something more festive by painting up an old thrift shop table (or one you want to take out of the house) to use under cover in the backyard? Or leave it inside if you like the Boho look that's fashionable now.

Home decorator pieces can be expensive! A simple redo of a thrift store buy and a bit of spray paint could be an economical way to get something stylish without the cost.  For the house or garden. 

Blackboard paint and some simple frames transform this old filing cabinet.

A tired old set of drawers with a coat of paint and drawers removed becomes an console table with open storage for the linens.

Remember when pine furniture was the thing? Before you throw it out think about how you can update it. A painted dresser new would cost a few thousand dollars to buy (if you can find one you like). Updating an old one could be a great alternative and give you the storage and the look that fits in a modern decor.  This is also a good way to unify odd pieces of furniture that don't go together naturally.

A plain storage cube gets new functionality with the addition of some baskets to store those things that won't look good on the shelf.

You'll find more ideas here 

No matter what situation you're in right now, there are things you can do that will make your surroundings more pleasant and give you projects to work on that don't cost a lot of money. If money is no object, then the appeal of creating something uniquely your taste may be the incentive you need.

Repurpose, reuse and recycle! It's a very on-trend thing to do!

Choose: High Income Or High Net Worth?

Robert Neubecker

Years ago one of the books that made a big impact on me was Thomas J Stanley's The Millionaire Next Door, a study of what really affluent people actually do and how they live. And it found a lot of surprises.  Often those who look the most affluent by their purchases and appearances - are not at all.

The difference between high income and high net worth is an important distinction to make. 

You probably know people who have had jobs with big money coming in, buy all the toys and then when the economy tightens and they are laid off, are in dire straights.

This illustrates the point quite well. It also reminds us that we need to verify the logic behind numbers and statistics that are in the articles we read.

"I estimate that there are 2.5 million households or nearly 2.2% of the total that have annual realized incomes of $250,000 or more.  Using Ms. Muller's estimates that 39% of "the rich" buy luxury brands, one can estimate the number who do so, approximately 975,000.  Ah, but this population is much smaller than those households who drive prestige makes but have annual incomes under $100,000.

About 30 million households have annual incomes in the $50,000 to under $100,000 bracket alone.  Translated:  8% of 30 million = 2.4 million who are buying luxury cars but are not in the so-called "rich" category.  This population is nearly 2.5 times the size of the high income/luxury vehicle buyer."

Which leads to the really important question...

"Could it be that it is the pseudo affluent, the aspirationals, who are keeping the manufacturers of prestige makes of motor vehicles in business?"   You can find the article this is from here. 


Sadly  Thomas J. Stanley, at age 71, died in March 2015 in a car crash.

He used research to smash the stereotype that being wealthy meant looking wealthy. On the contrary, his works said: Self-made millionaires — the real deal, not the wannabes — are much more likely to be frugal and spurn spending for show. More ...

As for the people showing off the bling? “It’s the neurotic middle-class,” he said in a 1991 interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Or the millionaires’ children."

More on Thomas J Stanley 

Paying Tribute to Thomas Stanley and His ‘Millionaire Next Door’ - New York Times

Remembering Thomas J. Stanley, who redefined what it means to be rich - Washington Post

On Staying In A Job, Or Quitting To Follow A Passion.

Excellent answer to the question the comes up all the time about staying in a job or quitting to follow a passion.

Should I quit my job and follow my passion or stick to job and improve my performance?

My wedding is six months away and my manager just extended my probation saying I have not performed well and got an offer to teach one more subject (teaching is my passion and teach during weekends) my friends started a start up.

Click through for the thoroughly generous and satisfying answer one Quora member responded with.
Click here to read

Three Myths of Behavior Change With Jenny Cross

What leads people to change? Ir's not what you think. And it isn't commonsense or education.

Learn how to influence change to get outcomes that are beneficial.

Social interaction helps with changing attitudes. 

How you present the information triples the effectiveness. 

Human beings are loss averse. We hate to lose anything. If you tell them what they are losing they will pay attention, over telling them what they will gain. Framing loss can make a difference. 

Different audiences have different social norms they care about. It must resonate with the audience and apply to their cohort.  Key to your message being credible to that group. 

We think generally if you want to change behaviour, you need to change attitude. Nope. 

Forget changing the attitude, attitudes follow behaviour they do not predict it. Before that - set expectations first. Set behavioural expectations.

Look for underlying values that people really care about. 

Group 1   Save money, save the planet, save the children   

Group 2   Frugality a value in and of itself. 

Both groups share this value. Both groups will buy in to the change. 

Social scientists know - we do not know what influences us. And what we think it is isn't. 

Social norms are powerful and invisible to us but they work. 

A person acting as an example is more effective than a sign saying to do something.

Hunter Storm April 2015

Monday Night. 

Severe storms hit our local region this week and suddenly whole towns are without electricity, without phone service, are without internet and mobile service.

The problem hits home the next day when the power outage continues. For the next day and night, and another, and another.

As I write this in the wee hours of the morning in a dark house by the light of a torch, without even the radio for company it is a truth that can't be denied - we take our connected world so for granted that it is at such times that we realise how dependent - and how helpless we have become, without our technology.

For those with land lines for the telephone still connected (many homes don't have them now), this is a tenuous line to the rest of the world. Mine was out - drowned in the torrential downpour that continues with rain belting down with seemingly no end. Storm and tempest indeed it is. And so dark. Not a star in sight as clouds blanket the sky.

I Knew That Once

Our phone numbers we once remembered for everyone we knew now reside outside of our conscious recall. They live in our computers and cell phones and without power to make them go, once the charge ebbed from the draining batteries, are locked away from us when we need them most.

The radio, the single source for news in times of emergency weather events like this one is silent too. Weather the storm for days when there is electricity it is inconvenient but is like a forced convalescence. Alas for me, with no power and no battery radio it is like a sensory deprivation chamber. Nothing to see. Nothing to hear. Nothing to do. But write this note while I can see by this torchlight.

Come daylight, an emergency run to the shopping centre reveals roads closed to traffic and under flood water. Luckily there is another grocery store that is open and being powered by generator, with the checkouts manned by managers who would normally not be seen dead near a customer transaction.   What to buy? That's the burning question. What is there that is available to buy that is any use at all in a situation like this? What have the earlier customers left that will add some amenity to life during this blackout that has no end date so far. It's enlightening as an experience to survey shelves groaning with preposterous products that have no utility at all in a world without electricity.

Shopping Old Style

No refrigerator means no perishables will be in my shopping basket today. Where are the candles kept? The normal ritual of the grocery store to move everything regularly to force customers to look at different things as they hunt for what they want, isn't helping. It may not be hurting either. There are no candles to be had. Matches. I need matches. Must stock up on those and hope the candles I have at home hold out. Batteries. I really want an LED lantern but of course no luck today with that. They do have a small LED powered 'headlight' that's priced at what seems an extortionate $45 dollars - but is the closest thing I am going to find as a light source to rely on, so in the basket that goes.

Bread. Small cans of tuna... they should come in handy if this goes on much longer and the cold food in the freezer is used up or past saving. Long life milk. Small packs mean lest waste so they go in the basket. At least coffee is still possible to make, if not exactly easy. There is always the Weber! Plenty of gas in the bottle.

Priorities change when you have no electricity.

A Century Of ANZAC

Which reminds me, this year that commemorates the anniversary of 100 years since the Gallipoli landing and just a few days out from ANZAC day, all the things that are still useful to me in my blackout period, are the kinds of products that our forebears one hundred years before might have bought.  While we have all kinds of gadgets that suddenly are not working;  in their day, what they had no iPads or smartphones or computers but what they did have was geared to help them survive.

How silly our gadgets seem when they have nothing to make them go.

Our forebears who watched their young sons go off to fight a desperate war where privation would be their constant companion, facing unknowable horrors. On this week our own community gets a fresh lesson on what life was like before modern conveniences, cold storage, instant heat and endless access to produce in or out of season.   Without the virtual world and gadgets, and without the 24 hour news cycle.

They who lived a hundred years ago knew all about early nights and straining eyes to see in a weak light.

They also have more conversation, more stories to share and more time to relate one to one. We might call that quality time.

And I have finally found a battery operated radio to buy - and snaffled the last set of batteries from the last store to have them.


Friday morning. 

The power is on again. Yippee! Plug in the gadgets and get them powered up, pack away the candles and assorted paraphernalia. Refrigerator can wait to be cleaned out. I'll get to it later...

This has been a significant weather event - and it has no name.

In 2007 we endured something similar that was accompanied by the Pasha Bulker coal ship being beached in Newcastle.

Thereafter the storm event of 2007 has been referred to as the Pasha Bulker storm.

This time we have no defining name. It needs a name to mark its passing.

After four nights I got my electricity back on. I got my internet connection and mobile phone service.

Saturday 

Anzac Day celebrations have refashioned our lost lives of the young men who perished into a blockbuster story that somehow tells us of the glory of it all. I wonder how that happened.

I've never seen an ANZAC digger talk about it that way. Well they can't set the record straight now.

Lest we forget.

Sunday night. 

Some homes are still without electricity.

I learned more about what happened during these days. This is what had been going on beyond my street. Take a look.

 Flooding near Raymond Terrace in the northern part of New South Wales. More than 20 people have been rescued from floodwaters and more than 200,000 homes and businesses are without power as storms continue to lash parts of the state. Photograph: Nikki Short/AAP Image

This is a lovely gazebo by the Williams River at Raymond Terrace - when it is not flooded! 

This street in Hamilton South had eight massive uprooted trees. Amazing sight. #newystorm

Darkest days in history  #fromwerewoulduratherbe #newcastle #Darkest days in history 🌚🌚🌚 #fromwerewoulduratherbe #newcastle #newystorm #rglivenews #travelnewystorm #rglivenews #travel

The chicken that didn't cross the road! Severe storms in the Newcastle area caused havoc for the Red Rooster on Main Rd, Edgeworth today... Photo by @simonedepeak Simone De Peak #everydayaustralia #newcastle 

Massive gumtree down in Brown Massive gumtree down in Brown street #newystorm #newcastlestormtreet #newystorm #newcastlestorm

Brett Costello ‏@Brett_Costello  Apr 21

Wild weather continues to batter the coast at Clovelly in Sydney this afternoon @dailytelegraph #weather

How Mindset Affects Our Ability In Life

Mindset matters.

The placebo effect is a powerful robust and consistent example of how expectation affects the mind's ability to assist with healing.




Should you tell your kids they are smart or talented? Professor Carol Dweck answers this question and more, as she talks about her groundbreaking work on developing mindsets.
Carol Dweck is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology and, by courtesy, at the Graduate School of Education. A leading expert in the field of motivation, her research has demonstrated the role of mindsets in students’ achievement and has shown how praise for intelligence can undermine motivation and learning.