by Matthew Best
An interesting thing happened to me this past week. One day this past week I was attempting to get out the door to do some work at Panera, otherwise called my office away from my office. The kids were asking me tons of questions, one of the cats had just done something unmentionable outside the litter box, the baby started to cry - we have a pretty full house, so all this is pretty normal.
I was a bit frustrated though. I was frustrated because I was concerned that I wouldn't h…
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Added by Matthew Best on June 28, 2009 at 12:34pm —
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by Matthew Best
This past week I listened to the book Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. I really enjoyed the book. The authors explored areas that most people never even begin to think about and ask questions that no one else is asking.The theme that I took away from the book was the internal vs. the external. The authors gave several examples of how so many external things really have no impact on the outcome of people.
For example - The authors cited a study that was conducte…
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Added by Matthew Best on June 12, 2009 at 11:10am —
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by Matthew Best
Andy Andrews, an author and motivational speaker, tells a story about Hernan Cortes,a Spanish Conquistador who went in search of and captured a large Aztec treasure.Before he left for the New World, he gathered the troops he would need and told them the story of how their life would change after they captured the treasure The day finally came for Cortes and his troops to sail. Each day on the journey he told his troops the same story about the gold and how it would…
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Added by Matthew Best on June 5, 2009 at 10:00pm —
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We took a short family vacation to the beach this past week. I love the beach. Even in the relaxation and the hustle of
vacations, there are lessons to be pay attention to.
First lesson - taking time away. I am convinced that entrepreneurs and business owners and decision makers spend way too much time working. Believe me, I've been there. I understand - there's lots to be done and it's your business, so you invest a great deal of time w…
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Added by Matthew Best on May 31, 2009 at 8:15am —
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by Matthew Best
So, what's your
niche? It's quite an intimidating question isn't it? I find that
very few people can truly identify what their niche is completely. Most entrepreneurs struggle with the idea of defining a niche - they are creative people and see any limitation, even if it's self-imposed, as a violation of their freedom. Can you see how this mig…
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Added by Matthew Best on May 23, 2009 at 1:36pm —
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by Matthew Best
You've heard the question before - Are you working in or on your business? The
idea being that we do a lot of the technical parts of our business and we don't
invest enough time working on the business
strategy and
focus.
This p…
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Added by Matthew Best on May 13, 2009 at 12:58pm —
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by Matthew Best
I had a great conversation this week about confusing the
tools in our lives with
the real deal - the goal we are looking to accomplish. What I mean is that so
often we forget that a tool is just a tool, not the thing that is actually important.
Yet how often do we attach so much importance and significance to the tool that
we lose sight of this? All of a sudden the tool overshadows the…
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Added by Matthew Best on May 7, 2009 at 10:01pm —
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by Matthew Best
For the past week I've been focusing on the idea of control. So often we ask questions
that relate to control - "Who's in control here?" or "What's the…
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Added by Matthew Best on May 3, 2009 at 5:47am —
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by Matthew Best
It's been said that beginnings are often disguised at painful endings. Take a look around you at life cycles. The ending of business or personal relationships. The ending of a job or the "failure" of a business. The ending of a sporting event.
These are all endings, bu…
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Added by Matthew Best on April 24, 2009 at 11:22pm —
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by Matthew Best
Let's do a quick check - how's your attitude? Are you depressed, angry, upset, annoyed, etc? Do you watch the news, read the paper, see articles on the internet, listen to your friends and neighbors complain?
It's pretty easy to let all the negativity get to you, isn't it? We are all inundated with negativity nonstop.
Let me get right to the point - I'm sick of hearing about it! Consider this - more millionaires have been "made" during recessions and depressions than during "g…
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Added by Matthew Best on April 10, 2009 at 11:06pm —
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by Matthew Best
The band U2 recently released a brand new album. I purchased it soon after its release. I hadn't even heard a single song that was on the album. So why did I buy it?
I bought it because U2 is my all time favorite band. I've bought all of their albums over the years. I love their music.
This got me thinking about trust. Even though I had not heard a single song on the new album, I trusted that I would like it. I have this trust because in one sense, being a fan of U2, I have a…
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Added by Matthew Best on April 1, 2009 at 1:11am —
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by Matthew Best
I have a colleague who once set a goal to fail more than he had in the past. You read that correctly - he wanted to fail more.
You may be wondering if my colleague lost his marbles. No, not at all. It's the idea that we fail forward to success.
There is the famous story about Thomas Edison. Edison invented the light bulb, but it took him over 10,000 attempts to get it right. When asked by a reporter about those 10,000 "failures," Edison responded that they weren't failures at…
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Added by Matthew Best on March 24, 2009 at 11:50pm —
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by Matthew Best
Most entrepreneurs I know have no problem with goal setting - at least they think they are good at it. In fact, most entrepreneurs I know have a ton of goals. Their challenge comes down to two things - prioritization and manageable goals.
Prioritizing your goals will allow you know which goal to work on first. What's the easiest way to prioritize your goals? Run a tournament. It's March Madness time, so this should be an easy concept. Set your goals up in brackets and have two…
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Added by Matthew Best on March 17, 2009 at 1:32pm —
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by Matthew Best
This past week my wife delivered our fourth child. It's a wonderful experience that changes your life. In fact, when you think about it - running a business is very much like having a newborn.
When you have a newborn you just don't sleep on your own schedule - it's the baby's schedule. Isn't that also true for your business? When a customer wants something, you go out of your way to fulfill their need on their time frame. It doesn't always work out, but your customer appreciate…
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Added by Matthew Best on March 13, 2009 at 11:08pm —
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Every once in awhile, even the most positive person will allow themselves to feel the effects of what is going on around them. It can be difficult for entrepreneurs to stay upbeat - the constant drumbeat of the media about the recession, hearing about it from friends and family, seeing it in the newspaper, etc. What's a person to do? Here's a few quick tips.
First - tune out as much of it as you can. You know what the news is going to report don't you? Death, destruction, loss, fire, damage, cr…
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Added by Matthew Best on February 28, 2009 at 2:46am —
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If you had a stone in your shoe, what would you do? Most people I know would answer with the obvious solution - take your shoe off and dump the stone out. Problem solved.
What I find amazing though is that we may know this intellectually, but there are so many examples in life where we put aside this obvious solution and think that the simple solution of "dumping the stone" just won't work for any number of reasons.
Examples abound these days - one need only look at how government operates to…
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Added by Matthew Best on February 19, 2009 at 4:00am —
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Do you realize that you and your business are always changing? What I find amazing is that we spend so much time attempting to get ourselves and our businesses to a position of familiarity - actions that we feel comfortable with. We do this because it’s human nature to want to feel like we are in control.
Usually though, if we are in a position familiarity, we get ourselves lulled into a false sense of security - and that’s when we start to fall behind. You can read endless stories about people…
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Added by Matthew Best on January 20, 2009 at 3:35pm —
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What’s your company’s manifesto? I know you are probably sitting there saying - “what in the world are you talking about Matthew? Manifestos? What in the world does that have to do with my business?”
A lot actually. I was listening to an audio book and the author suggested that every company should have a manifesto. What a great idea. I’ll be working on the Best Solutions’ manifesto this week, won’t you join me?
See, manifestos don’t have to be just political or religious documents stating a s…
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Added by Matthew Best on January 14, 2009 at 10:46pm —
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We are now a few days into 2009 - how are you doing with your resolutions for the new year? Did you make any?
Recent studies suggest that fewer people are making resolutions and the ones that do make them are breaking those resolutions faster than previous years.
Here’s my advice for your New Year’s resolutions - don’t do them. Instead make one significant New Year’s promise. This is something that you will absolutely promise to complete by the end of 2009. It could be something personal or bu…
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Added by Matthew Best on January 7, 2009 at 12:01am —
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