Lawrence Fine

Disneyworld
The Pyramids
Eiffel Tower
Golden Gate Bridge
Great Wall of China

Over the years, man has been able to create some truly impressive things.

Grand Canyon
Great Barrier Reef
Mount Everest
Victoria Falls

As impressive as some of man’s creations have been, I don’t believe they even start to compare to some of the natural wonders and creations.

When you get a chance take some time and explore of our natural wonders, they can truly be breathtaking!

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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People are busy these days.

You spend a lot of time writing an important email and you make sure to provide as much detail as possible (including background info). You hit “Send” and wait for a response…and wait…and wait…and you never get a reply.

If you want people to reply to an email (and this would apply to other forms of communication as well), be detailed but keep in brief. People are busy and might not have the time to read a 7 paragraph email. Even if they have time to read it, they might not have time to reply adequately because it’s difficult to reply to a 7 paragraph email with a one line response.

Be considerate of other peoples time and keep it brief and it will increase the likelihood of a response.

Just something to think about

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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I was riding back from a meeting yesterday and the driver missed a turn and before we knew it we were 40 miles out of the way. When we finally got turned around and returned to the proper turn, we were 80 minutes “behind schedule”.

The person driving was both embarrassed and worried I would be upset due to this inconvenience. I had to explain that in the overall big picture…it just doesn’t matter.

Does being 80 minutes behind schedule really affect many things (especially when I’m simply returning home and don’t have a schedule to meet)? Even if it does affect things, does getting upset change anything? In both cases the answer is no.

Think about how many times you have become upset over something that really, deep down, doesn’t matter. Did it help in any way? Probably not.

If nothing gets accomplished by getting upset, why bother? Deep down, it really doesn’t matter.

Learn to enjoy life, ignore the minor setbacks and just worry about the things that do matter and the things you can affect, the others, just let them go

Just something to think about

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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One persons bugs is another persons benefit.

When you see a problem with something you are doing it’s easy to panic and think you have to fix it right away.

Instead, first look through the problem and see if this “bug” can actually be a selling pint for someone else. Think about the number of products that started one way and ended another way. One of the best known cases would be Post It notes. It started out trying to be one thing and then turned into something quite different

Keep in mind that one persons bug might be another persons benefit so look at all things with an open mind and see what can be done.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Trust is hard to earn and easy to lose. Once lost it’s extremely difficult to regain.

Be careful about taking it for granted.

Just something to think about.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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You have a big project to do…you can figure it out as you go

You have a big project to do…spend a few minutes to make a plan and then do it

Frequently, these are the two options people choose from. Then, they spend twice as much time getting the project done than they would if they had proper planning AND it’s typically not done right anyway.

On the other hand, spend sufficient time doing true planing (everything from goal setting to flow charting to time lines to organizational charts etc) and while the start will take longer than the other two options, you will most likely finish quicker, have a better finished product and need less revisions.

It’s your choice

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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If they would only give me a chance I could show them I could be just as good as the others.

If they would only give me a chance I could show them I could be better than the rest.

If they would only give me a chance I could show them just what I could do.

If they would only give me a chance…

Who is “they”? Why are you entititled to a chance (or to anything)?

If you want a chance, go earn it.

If you want a promotion, instead of complaining, go prove you are worth it.

If you want a starting position on your team, beat out the person ahead of you.

Stop blaming others, step up and go earn your chance. You’ll feel much better earning it rather than hoping someone gives it to you

Just something to think about.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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A small company I am familiar with has decided to sell a small “division” that is currently making around $20,000 a month in profit. This “division” (it’s not really a division as it’s simply a web site that requires very little maintenance) is run on “autopilot” and other some minor upkeep and monitoring is self sufficient.

The obvious question is why would they sell something that requires very little work, makes $20k a month and has been doing so for years? They don’t need the money (the company is quite profitable), it’s not causing them any problems and it enhances their reputation.

When explaining the reasoning for the sale, one of the owners had a pretty simple explanation. This division doesn’t help their core business, they aren’t able to give the division the time or attention it needs to improve and because of this they feel they are doing an injustice to the division and their customers and someone who has the time to provide the proper attention can do a much better job for themselves and for their customers.

Are there things you are doing in your business that might be profitable but are costing you money when you factor in opportunity costs? Might there be things you are spending time and money on which you could get rid of and allow you to concentrate more on your core business?

It’s something that everyone should take into consideration and worth reviewing on a regular basis

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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When you start hiring employees, if you start with good people you will find when you are looking for more employees, they will recommend other good people.

Good employees prefer to be around other good employees so by starting with good ones, it helps you keep growing your business with other good people.

Likewise, start with bad employees and most likely they will recommend other bad employees.

The reality is, it is your choice.

Why do people start with bad employees then?

Just something to think about

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Sometimes you have to just say no even if it’s in your best interests, short term, to say yes.

As an example, I have a web design client who wants to do many things with a new web site and most of these things will result in the client failing in terms of accomplishing their goals. My options are to give them what they want (and they are willing to pay for this) and see them fail long term or explain why this is not in their best interests and risk losing them as a client.

The easy answer is to take the approach that “the customer is always right” and give them exactly what they want. The right answer is to not do what I don’t believe in and show them the right away.

While this is what I consider the ‘right answer’ the challenge is if everyone takes this approach, there would be no innovation, there would be no creativity and no differences. It’s easy to ask “who says my way is the right way?” and this is a legitimate question. It really comes down to how strong are your beliefs, how much of an expert are you and also, are you willing to lose a client over these beliefs.

There isn’t a right or wrong answer but if you truly believe you are right, be willing to say no if you believe it’s not in the persons best interests.

Just something to think about

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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