Lawrence Fine

People with limited ability have very few options

With with a lot of ability have a lot of options.

The problem with having a lot of options is it can be difficult to focus and to get any of the options done.

It’s actually easier to focus with fewer options but if give me a choice, I would rather have more options and then work on my discipline to make sure I stay focussed.

If you struggle with focus, work with other people to make sure you stay on target and don’t waste your opportunities.

Just something to think about.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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When I’m at home I usually have music on in the background. Sometimes it’s classic rock, sometimes, country, sometimes bluegrass, sometimes calypso and sometimes something even more random. Most of the time, I have Pandora playing so I have many options.

For those of you not familiar with Pandora it’s Internet based radio based on whatever genre or artist you like. They have a free or paid plan. The free plan allows up to 40 hours of listening a month and has some advertisements. The paid plan costs $36 a year and allows for unlimited listening, has no advertisements and has a higher quality sound (so they say, I wouldn’t know the difference). For me it’s a no brainer to go with the paid plan for a number of reasons with the main one being I listen to a lot more than 40 hours a month. However, when I first signed up for the service I tried it for a few days and then went with the paid plan even though I didn’t know I would be exceeding the 40 hours. The reason I chose to do that is I thought it was a great concept and for $36 a year was worth supporting whether I used it a lot or not.

The other day I had to renew my Pandora membership and it got me thinking whether there were other things I would or should support even though they are free. Or, are there other businesses we should support even if they might cost a bit more?

It’s difficult, if not impossible for a small local grocer to compete with Wal Mart on price since Wal Mart has such strong buying power but if the local grocer provides better service would you pay a bit more?

The small, local business owner needs the support of their community. The mistake some make is to feel that people owe them just because they are local and should pay more. While many people do want to support local the reality is, they want something in return. I will pay a bit more to buy local IF the local business provides better service or has more knowledge or is able to provide SOMETHING others can’t. As an example, if I need to buy a pair of shoes and I go to a local store, I want and expect better customer service in return for a slightly higher price from a big box store. If they are higher priced and have lesser service than why would I shop there?

I believe it’s important to support small businesses and local businesses but, and this is a big but, only if they are deserving. The local farmer who is growing organic food and has to charge more deserves it. The local store who provides bad service doesn’t.

Support the local businesses…that deserve it.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Last week I was invited to attend a meeting to discuss technology. I wasn’t sure what the purpose or agenda was but agreed to attend so rode 3 hours in each direction to attend. At the end of the meeting I was speaking with another of the participants and we both felt there was around a 25% chance something positive would come out of the meeting and a 75% chance it would result in nothing at all. We also agreed that while there was only a 25% chance of something positive happening as a result of us attending, if we hadn’t attended there would have been 0% chance of something positive happening for us and it was worth the chance.

People buy lottery tickets with only an infinitesimal chance of winning and are willing to take that chance.

People play blackjack with less than a 50% chance of breaking even.

Batters in baseball can make a LOT of money if they are successful 30% of the time.

Why is it in business many people are afraid to try something because it might not work? The fear of trying something and having it fail will result in a lot of “wannabe entrepreneuers” to never try. If you were told you had a 1 in 4 chance of success in starting up a new business would you try or would wait till you increase your odds?

There are no sure things in business (my guess is when News Corp bought MySpace.com they thought that was a “sure thing”) except that if you will only try for the sure thing you will never try anything.

What percentage is enough for you to take a chance?

Just something to think about.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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I received the following quote via email from a local business person.

“The Master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both.”
- Zen Buddhist Text
 
While I love the quote my one response was that I assume the person who wrote this doesn’t have to do any paperwork because to me, it’s the one thing that separates work from play!

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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If you are starting a business and you have the option of choosing between help from employees of a non profit organization who have never run a for profit business or you could choose to get help from successful business people who have run their own profitable businesses, in your industry, for years, which would you choose?

If you are starting a business would you rather have investors who have money but no experience in your industry or from investors who have money and experience and contacts in your industry?

If you are starting a business would you rather network with others who are hoping to start businesses or with others who are already in your industries or related industries?

Public organizations that are trying to help with start up organizations tend to either be or work with the first option for each answer. Private people who are looking to invest in other businesses in related fields to their own tend to be the second option.

Too often, people look toward public organizations to help them get started. If we want to make a difference (and many people say they do but in reality it’s more talk than action) we need to look toward private companies, private individuals and private groups. These private groups have the knowledge, experience, contacts and resources to help others grow. Admittedly, they also frequently want something in return but wouldn’t you want a portion of something big than all of nothing?

Look private and you might be surprised what is out there.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Money
Resources
Time
Expertise
Contacts

If you are involved with a project there are many things you might contribute. Above are listed just a few ways one can contribute.

If you want to be involved in projects be prepared to make a contribution, too many people are just along for the ride.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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There are so many options out there. Within an hour and a half of Charleston WV one can:

hike,
go rafting,
go kayaking,
go canoeing,
go zip lining,
go biking,
drive around the mountains,
go to antique stores,
go to flea markets,
listen to live music,
go skiing,
go to art galleries
go to museums
shop
read
etc

With so many options out there, why do most of us choose to do…nothing different?

We do the same old same old, complain about nothing to do and wish we were somewhere else.

The only time many of us do any of these things is when someone comes from out of town.

Why not do more things we enjoy when we get some free time? It’s easy to come up with reasons why (no time, family obligations, blah blah blah) but if more of us were to do more adventurous things, we might enjoy our lives a lot more as well.

Go out and do something this week, you might surprise yourself and enjoy it.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Real estate is expensive. It might cost less than it did a few years ago but it’s still expensive and it’s even more expensive if you don’t utilize it effectively

The other day I was in Asheville NC and found a building that was really using their space well. It’s an old office building with a coffee shop on the first floor. The rest of the building seemed to be all office space. However, if you go up the elevator (which was very old and still used an attendant to operate) to the top floor and follow the signs there is an exit to the Sky Bar. This is an outdoor bar on three levels of the fire escape/balcony. The top level had no seating, just some space for people to stand and take in the views. There was a small slab along one of the railings to allow people to put drinks on. You could go down to the next two levels and they had bistro style tables and cheers. Servers walked around taking drink orders and then they went inside to a room not much larger than a closet which served as the bar. The views were amazing but the real key here is how they were using space that had been ignored for decades and turned it into a profitable venture (both for the building owner who was renting space that had never been rented before and for the owners of the business)

The question is are you using your space properly? This could range from putting something on a roof, in a spare room, on empty land or even on space on a sign or website.

The key is to utilize space properly, not clutter everything up. Leaving some space open might be a matter of utilizing the space properly but at the very least know what your possibilities are.

Just something to think about.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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What we do is not who we are.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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How often do you hear people (or businesses or organizations) find a way to deflect blame, place blame or deny blame but rarely if ever do they accept blame and more importantly rarely work to solve the problem rather than play the blame game?

One of my clients just had an issue where their server wasn’t working. Before they were able to contact me, the hosting company had already created a ticket notifying me of the problem, started the process of getting it fixed and explained what happened and what steps they were taking to make sure it wouldn’t happen again (and interestingly, although they were taking responsibility for the problem, it really wasn’t their fault at all as it was a case of them trying to fight off an attack by hackers).

By the time the client notified me of the problem, the site was already back up and everything was working properly.

Contrast this with the more typical situation where people argue about who was at fault and who to blame without even considering how to get it fixed.

It is nice to know who was at fault when something goes wrong (to prevent it from happening again) but it’s much more important to figure out how to fix it first and then to figure out how to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

By the way, the very proactive company is Rackspace Hosting. They cost more but you get much more in return

Just something to think about.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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