Lawrence Fine

One of the difficulties when looking at fair ways to compensate employees is the decision on whether to compensate based on merit or based on seniority. The argument goes back and forth between “they have earned it because they have been loyal and been here longer” and “shouldn’t we be paying the best people the most money?”

If this is the debate isn’t there a bigger problem? If the people with the most seniority aren’t the best people why aren’t we doing a better job of training them? With proper training shouldn’t people with experience excel over less experienced people?

How much money are you spending on continuing education (not just on what is required to maintain licenses or certification but to make sure people are constantly improving)? While many organizations might think of extra continuing education as an added (and possible unneccesary) expense those organizations that want to excel will realize it’s not a matter of how much will it cost but rather how much money is your organization losing by not having employees who are growing in their roles?

Start thinking of continuing education as a way to increase potential profits as opposed to increasing costs and, done properly, your organization will prosper

Just something to think about.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Southern California home sales and prices fall again in July
Evergreen Solar files for bankruptcy
Treasuries-Bonds lose ground
SEC Lauches inquiry into S&P Downgrade
New York Area Manufacturing Shrinks for Third Month

These are just some random headlines I found online and in reading these it would be easy to see why there is so much pessimism regarding our economic situation.

On the other hand, when looking smaller and more locally the reality is there are still some great opportunities for those who have positioned themselves properly.

A few days I ago I was having dinner with someone and his phone rang. He apologized for taking the call but as he put it “there are so many opportunities out there right now and if I don’t make myself available I might lose out on one that I want”. He took the call and it ends up it was from a bank he has a strong relationship with wanting to know if he wanted to buy a piece of machinery. It was something he needed and because they needed to get it off their books, he was able to buy it for around 50% of what he expected to pay. The bank was happy to get it off their books and he was happy to get something he needed for a great price.

The very next day I went to look at a possible rental property to purchase. A few years ago when I started looking at the possibility of owning some residential houses to rent out I read where 1% would be a good rent/price ratio (this means if the monthly can be 1% or higher of the purchase price plus renovation cost it would be a good price). The house I went to look at the other day could be rented for more than 3% of the purchase price plus renovation costs.

Later on that day I received a call from a friend who had purchased a large piece of land that day and had a buyer for that same property lined up who would be closing within 30 days and this friend would be selling for twice what he paid (within 30 days).

In each of the cases above it was a case of being available to consider (and pay for) an opportunity when it arose as well as taking the time to develop the relationships through networking to find out about the opportunities (in each case it was simply being told of an opportunity that was available to anyone else, in no way was it any type of insider trading or anything like that). These relationships were developed with in-person communication (as opposed to being friends on FaceBook or linked together through linkedin.com).

There are a lot of negatives these days about the economy (and many of them are accurate) but there are just as many opportunities out there for those who are willing and able to take advantage of them.

Just something to think about.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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You are in a bad mood. It lasts all day. You think, it’s not a big deal it’s just temporary. The thing to keep in mind is that every person you came in contact with while in that bad mood sees that as your regular state. The first and possible last impression a person gets is during that time period so while you might think “it’s only temporary, no big deal” to others, it’s their permanent perception.

The same is true for a retail store. You walk into a retail store and there are boxes all over the place and it’s a complete mess, you probably aren’t going to return. The store employees might be thinking “it’s only a temporary mess while we make the store look even better” but for you, your opinion is formed.

Realize that your temporary is another persons permanent.

It’s a different way to look at things but one that can help you understand how people get the impression of you that they do.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Two years from now will you be telling people “I had that idea”?.

Two years from now will you be thinking “I should have done that”?

Two years from now will you be using a product you had thought of a couple of years earlier?

Two years from now will you be thinking what could have been?

If so, why wait two years? Why not take that idea and actually take a chance and do it? Don’t put yourself in a position where in two years you will be thinking about what you could have done or should have done or might have done.

Two years from now you should be thinking “I did it!”

Think about where you want to be and then take the steps to get there.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Yesterday I wrote about Fire Fighters vs Fire Preventers. Today, the topic is Fire Starters.

Fire Preventers are the ones who work to make sure problems don’t arise in the first place. Fire Fighters are the ones who deal with the problems once they do occur. Fire Starters are the ones responsible for the fires in the first place.

Fires get started due to lack of planning, lack of attention to details and lack of willingness to finish what was started.

Not too surprisingly, just like with real fires, the people who are called on to put out the fires are sometimes even the ones who caused them in the first place. Sometimes it’s intentional but other times because they are so involved in putting out other fires, they are careless and causing problems elsewhere.

Fire Fighters require time, effort, resources etc in order to fix the problems. In most cases it would take less time to do it right the first time than it does to do it half right the first time and then fix it later.

There is a great saying “If you don’t time to do it right the first time, when will you have time to do it right?” (or something like that). Sometimes we should slow down and do things right rather than speed up and create problems for the future.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Firefighters are extremely valuable. When something goes wrong, they are there to put out the fires. In business, there are firefighters who take on similar roles. A problem arises, they quickly deal with the problem so normalcy can return.

Fire preventers don’t get nearly as much attention or credit but they are the ones who do the advance work to prevent the problems in the first place. This would include the planning, the developing of the foundations, the trouble shooting, the beta testing etc. It’s not nearly as glamorous a role as a firefighter but even more important.

Firefighters are extremely valuable. Fire preventers are invaluable. If you want to be invaluable to your organization be a fire preventer.

Just something to think about.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Sometimes, when trying to not hurt someones feelings we can end up doing more harm than good.

For example, you receive a report and while it’s not very good, you tell the writer it’s fine…and then rewrite it. The problem isn’t that report but rather future reports will be done the same way because the writer thinks it was well done.

A person makes a presentation to you and it’s awful yet you tell them it’s good and you will take it under consideration. While you think you are making them feel better, in reality you are holding them back because they wont grow without honest feedback.

It’s better to be honest with a review or evaluation, knowing it will hurt short term than to make them feel better short term and hurt them long term.

Just something to think about.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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When you meet a famous actor it’s important to realize they are JAG

When you meet a top athlete understand they are JAG

Someone might have a great business mind but deep down they are JAG

There are people out there with tremendous wealth but they are still JAG

What is JAG? Just is “just another guy” (or girl).

People are people. They might have a special talent, or good looks or a lot of mind but deep down, they are just another guy. Treat them that way and you might be surprised by the results

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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It’s easy to find exceptions for rules.

It’s harder to realize many of the exceptions are really just excuses to get around the rules.

There are times when exceptions should be allowed but when you find you are granting exceptions more than enforcing the rules, either your enforcement is wrong, or your rules are wrong

Just something to think about.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Many businesses want local business but are they willing to shop locally as well?

Recently I was told about a new business that moved into a town and when they needed to buy things for their store they decided to buy from a business in another state rather than with one 200 yards away. Interestingly the things they were buying were commodities and cost a lot more from out of state due to shipping. The total price for these products was around $2000.

A week later this new business made a sales call to the business 200 yards away to try to get them to buy THEIR commodity. The manager decided to stay with his current provider both because of loyalty but also since this new business didn’t buy from him. The cost of these products is around $250,000 a year for this business.

Is it possible there were other factors involved in the first companies decision to shop out of state? Of course! Maybe they were being loyal to a long time vendor of theirs. However their decision to not shop locally has already hurt them and will continue to hurt them in the future.

If you want people to shop locally with you, be willing to shop locally yourself.

Just something to think about.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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